Having my 5 year-old grandson in a Lutheran pre-kindergarten class presents a few challenges for this Catholic. I am happy he is getting a religious education every day. Of course, I wish it were in a Catholic school, but we have none available in our area. Recently he brought home a spiritual exercise for family devotion as part of their National Lutheran Schools week observance. The exercise is titled Light to My Path and the opening sentence states what they refer to as the main point. “The Bible is the source of guidance and truth about God, ourselves, and the world we live in; it lights our path for life. Psalm 119:105.”
Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.” Agreed the passage supports the theme of the exercise, but allow me to nitpick a little. The Catholic in me takes issue with their opening sentence stating the Bible is THE source (my emphasis added) of guidance and truth. I want to ask the Lutheran author what 1 Timothy 3:15 says about the source of truth. Certainly the Bible is a source of guidance and truth, but that source is transmitted by the Church, the pillar of foundation and truth. The Catholic Church assembled the Bible with the infallible authority given by Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, Luther rejected that authority of the Church leaving only the Bible as his guide. The contents of the Bible cannot be infallible if the authority that compiled it is not. The position is untenable.
Last week, my wife and I attended Grandparents’ day with our grandson at the Lutheran school. The school has an impressive enrollment for a small town in Pre-K to eighth grade. At the end of the program, they held a chapel service in their beautiful church building. There were scripture readings, prayers, and singing plus an energetic sermon by their pastor. During his talk, he posed some rapid-fire questions directed at the students who were sitting with their grandparents. Dozens of hands went up with children enthusiastically offering answers to each question. Even my little 5 year old grandson raised his hand at one question and answered correctly when called on. The impact of their religious education was evident.
Once again, I am reminded what we lost when our Catholic school closed years ago. These children are getting to know Jesus more every day. Our weekly CCD program cannot compete with a daily religious education where the pastor is engaged with the students and prayer happens throughout the day. They have over a hundred students in their program compared to about a dozen in ours. Yet as Catholics, we know they are not getting the fullness of the faith in the Church Jesus Christ established.
The question becomes, are we Catholics better off enrolling our children in a Lutheran school than relying on solely on our own CCD program? I believe they are as long as they eventually come to know the significant advantages we have as Catholics. Lutheran teaching is about as close to Catholic teaching as you can get without being Catholic. One of the main points of the talk given by the Lutheran pastor was the importance of Christians becoming disciples and taking every opportunity to share our Christian faith. For us Catholics, that becomes even more important to teach our own children the beauty of our Catholic faith.
We cannot effectively share the truth of our Catholic Church if we are spiritually lukewarm. Spending just a few minutes a day reading or listening to Catholic publications can make a huge difference in our religious zeal. The enthusiasm we possess in our faith flows and ebbs from time to time. It is so easy to be distracted by our daily routine to the point where we give little thought to our true purpose except perhaps on Sunday morning. Even then, random thoughts can creep into our minds at the most inopportune times when we should be focused on our participation in the Mass.
With Lent approaching this month, this is a good time to plan a spiritual tune-up. We usually give up something for Lent, maybe certain foods or a thing we enjoy doing. What about giving up something that you routinely do that normally takes up part of your day, and use that time to read a passage from Scripture or some other Catholic material. Most of us probably spend way too much time looking at our phones or computer screens. Giving them up completely might be too much to ask, but I am sure we could all give up some part for forty days. Maybe stay off of social media, or take a rest from youtube. Use that time to read one of Scott Hahn’s books or listen to a Catholic podcast. You still have time to find one you like before Lent.
You will likely find these sacrifices to be enjoyable. I love to listen to Catholic Answers Live each day. The guests are always interesting and I learn something new even when the questions are often familiar. More importantly, the shared love of our faith helps reinforce my desire to learn more and share that knowledge with others. It is like a religious pep talk. Get that enthusiasm for the faith flowing again and share it with your family and friends.
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