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LIVING OUR FAITH

SHARING AND LIVING OUR VALUES

Values are qualities that guide our lives.  They give our life purpose and direction. 

Our values are like a compass; they guide us in our choices and remind us of what is important in life. They shape the way we think about the world, and how we choose to act.   By themselves values are just words but when they are lived out, the meaning and importance become clear. 

Teaching Our Children Values

• “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”  James Balldwin

  All the teaching in the world can be undone if our kids watch us behave in ways that contradict everything we've said.  It is through the example of parents and other adults that children learn values and a sense of morality.  Our actions truly do speak louder than words.  While we can not keep children from ever seeing models of the kind of behavior we don’t want them to imitate, we can be more selective of what models we expose them to, especially television. 

  To Help Your Child Form Their Values (acrobat pdf file)

Review the values found in the Archives of this section of the website.   (Gratitude, Generosity, Peace, Love, Forgiveness, Faith, Hospitality)

SHARPENING THE SKILLS OF RESPECT FOR SELF, OTHERS AND OUR WORLD DURING THE SUMMER

Respect is to hold in high regard and honor; to show consideration for.

Respect is a verb.  It is something we do. Being respectful is reflected in the courtesy with which we treat one another, the way we speak and the way we treat other people’s belongings.  As Christians we are to respect God to respect ourselves, one another, and all God has created.

What did Jesus teach people about respect and how you should treat yourself and your fellow humans?

Jesus is the model for what it means to live with respect.  He looks deeply and sees in people what others cannot or will not see.  For Jesus, it is not enough simply to see the value of others, his actions also showed his respect. 

Parent Reflection

What are you doing to teach your children respect? 

Teaching respect is one of the most important jobs we have as parents.  The best way to teach respect is to show respect for yourself, for others and for the world. 

• It is important to not only show respect to other adults but also to your children.  When your child is talking to you are you listening, looking them in the eye or multi tasking?   How often we find ourselves saying “look at me when I am talking to you”, but do we look at them when they are talking to us? 
• As parents we usually limit our children’s use of “our things”.  Do we in turn respect their space and things?  We teach them the importance of respecting other people’s property by our example.
• As parents it is important to care for yourself.  Watching you eat properly, get enough rest etc. helps children to respect their bodies as God’s dwelling place.
• It is important to teach respect or reverence for all that God has created.  Show by your example the importance of conserving, recycling and not littering.

Family Reflection

With your family at dinner, in the car or other times you are together throughout the summer, talk about ways you show respect as well as ways you could become more respectful.

LIVING JUSTLY

Our faith calls us to work for justice; to serve those in need; to work toward peace, and defend life, dignity, and rights of all our sisters and brothers.  This is the call of Jesus, the challenge of the prophets, and the living tradition of our church.  (Century of Catholic Social Teaching, U.S. Catholic Bishops 1990.)

Principles of Social Justice

1. Dignity of the Human Person.   All people are sacred.
2. Call to Community and Participation.  The human person is a social being, one part of the human family.
3. Rights and Responsibilities.  All people have fundamental rights and a responsibility to respect the rights in others.
4. Option for the Poor. Society’s most vulnerable members must be treated equally.
5. Dignity of Work.  People have a right to work and to receive fair wages. 
6. Solidarity.  We are one human family called to work toward justice.
7. Care for God’s Creation.  We have a responsibility to care for the goods of the earth and the gifts from God.

To find out ways your home can be built on these 7 Social Justice Principles visit

The Seven Basic Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

Visit the archives of this section for information and activities on each of the Principles of Social Justice.

LIVING JUSTICE TODAY

In the past months, many of us have suffered job loss, cuts in pay or benefits, etc.    It is during these times that we are called to remember the principles of Social Justice

If your family has not been forced to make major adjustments during this time, you probably know families who have.  During these summer months look for ways that your family can reach out to others.  Reflecting on the Corporal Works of Mercy will help you decide on ways you can reach out to others. 

Jesus Teaches Us 

When Jesus looked around the world he saw that things were not always fair.  Some people had more than others. Jesus tried to open our eyes to the injustices in our world.  Jesus invites all people young and old to meet him in the poor, the hungry, the lonely, the imprisoned, the sick, the outcasts who find themselves, living on the streets with no clothes, home or food.  We ourselves are not responsible for world problems but Jesus asks us to see and care and to act and to transform.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry

Give Drink to the thirsty

Clothe the naked

Shelter the homeless

Visit the Sick

Visit the imprisoned

Bury the Dead

The Corporal Works of Mercy are ways the church gives us to care for the physical needs of others.  Six of the Works of Mercy are based on Mathew 25 the Last Judgment. The Church added a 7th Bury the Dead.  Mercy is an important way in which we show love for others.   If we have mercy we not only feel for people who are suffering but we also try to do something for them.  It is in the everyday acts of love within our homes, neighborhoods, and churches that we are mercy-workers, people of justice.

Family Time

Review the Corporal Works of Mercy.

Who are the people who fit into these categories:  In what ways does God invite you to see the hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick and imprisoned in your family or neighborhood?  

Living the Corporal Works of Mercy-Week by Week   As a family select one of the Corporal Works of Mercy each week during the summer. 

1. Together talk about the meaning of that Work of Mercy. Who are the people in today’s world that that work of mercy is talking about?
2. How could your household help these people?
3.  Decide on what your family will do.  {Participate in a food drive, clean closets and bring your good clothing to a clothing box, visit a nursing home or an elderly parishioner.}

“WE MUST BECOME THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD, WE MUST BECOME THE PEOPLE WE WANT OUR CHILDREN TO BE.”  Gandhi

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