Feb. 2020, Week One: Faith Life

by Soren and Ever Johnson

For the first week of each month we get back to basics — to Level One of your Trinity House: Faith Life. Last month, we wrote about the importance of keeping the Sabbath as the cornerstone activity of Level One. This month, let’s look at how we carry our Sabbath communion into every other day of the week.

As we reflect back over the years of our marriage, we have to acknowledge that we’ve often overlooked the centrality of the Eucharist. We’ve tried so many methods to enliven the Faith Life within the four walls of our home. But truth be told, we were often missing the reality right in front of our eyes at every Mass.

Communion comes to us, individually and corporately, out of the heart of the Trinity, through Mary’s yes, through Jesus’ life, through the life of the Church and into our hearts. By coming together with God in the Eucharist, we have received the source and summit of Faith Life. And all we need to do to have a robust Faith Life is maintain it.   

In our experience of Sunday Mass with the whole body of Christ, we truly experience heaven. Our corporate worship of God and our union with him in Word and Sacrament is our earthly participation in the life of heaven. The entire rest of our life – the other six days of the week – is  meant to maintain that communion with God and other people, that heaven, and spread it, always coming back to the Mass to renew it.
 
When we keep Sunday holy, we do that in order to enjoy and deepen our communion with God for the week ahead. Then, we carry this communion, keeping the bond fresh as we make time for daily prayer, perhaps in our “prayer chair” each weekday morning; as we pray daily with our spouse and children; as we study scripture and do spiritual reading; and as we partake of regular confession and the occasional retreat so that we’re better able to maintain and deepen that bond. 

Our ultimate Faith Life goal is to one day come to be in constant communion with God, never breaking communion from one Mass to the next, always offering that communion to whomever we come into contact with, spreading heaven wherever we go. And yet it’s so easy to let this bond of communion with God atrophy! When we don’t keep a particularly holy Sabbath (translation: another day spent rushing around, fitting Mass in, and resisting God’s invitation to rest), the rest of our Faith Life can easily come unravelled.

Without a strong, intentional communion, our daily prayer lives can wane, and we slip back into a default setting, centered on our own egos and wills, on self-reliance, on self-justification. We may then find ourselves chasing the tired old idols of others’ approval, of recognition, achievement, of comfort and appearances. It’s hard to motivate to do family prayer time when we’re in “self-reliance mode” – there doesn’t seem to be time for anything other than tending our idols.
 
So, as we reflect on our Faith Life this week, let’s consider viewing Level One of our Trinity House not as a series of boxes to check, or a program to complete, but instead, through the lens of the Eucharist. Our Faith Life is an invitation to carry forward the communion, the heaven, we experienced at Mass. With this awareness, we can make our homes a little taste of heaven to share with others – with our spouse, our kids, our neighbors, our colleagues at work, and so on, out into the world.

Heaven In Your Home Toolkit  

Have you thought more deeply about the reality of the Eucharist recently? Consider taking some time to read “The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers” from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

If the Eucharist is the foundation of the Faith Life of your Trinity House, be sure that you’re clear on the Church’s teaching. Bishop Barron’s video on “Catholics Misunderstanding the Eucharist” covers some common pitfalls.
 
Eucharistic Adoration is a beautiful way to carry communion throughout the week. Check out Life Teen’s “Beginner’s Guide to Adoration,” which includes 5 worthwhile suggestions.

Don’t Miss… 

Heaven In Your Home Workshops: Our next workshop is less than three weeks away, on Feb. 22nd at Precious Blood in Culpeper, Va.  Can’t make it to Culpeper? Join us on our livestream of that day’s workshop by signing up here!

Upcoming diocesan events and opportunities to go deeper in faith, including the annual diocesan Men’s Conference and annual diocesan Women’s Conference.
 
What Others Are Saying
 
“Heaven in Your Home Workshop is a tremendous testimony to the incredible love and mercy our God has for us, and the importance of looking to the relationship in the Trinity as an example of how to thrive together as families in faith.” Heaven in Your Home Workshop Participant        

Please Join Us In Prayer  
 
We invite you to keep the following needs in prayer and thanksgiving: 

• For all families, that they would grow in their love of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. 
• For all the participants of the upcoming Heaven in Your Home Workshops, that they would be strengthened in their vocations.
• For all parents, as they look at ways to strengthen and encourage their family’s faith life.