My Six Essentials for Passing on the Faith

August 01, 2013 by Phyllis Tickle

Continued from Page 1

The story of the Church herself, the grand narrative of the beloved community and the body of Christ on earth, is tied to more events than Christmas and Easter. It is tied to Shrove Tuesday with its pancakes for supper and the tale behind the pancakes. It is tied to a lovely cake in early January from the midst of which colored ribbons rise and trail along the sides, just waiting for the lucky child who will be the one to pull out the wondrous streamer with the tiny, tiny baby doll attached....just waiting for the happy remembrance of this day when Mary and Joseph took their baby son to the Temple and gave him there, before the priest, his Holy Name of Jesus. It is cinnamon buns on Good Friday, bearing their cross as they come to us bittersweet in their remembrance, etc.

These, then, are for me the sacred half-dozen from which all other efforts and intentions and programs must depend. Small and domestic though they may be, it is nonetheless by means of them that we begin to instill into the young the faith of our fathers and mothers. And of course, it is by the employment of them for our children that we teach and renew ourselves, even as we are teaching them.

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