Living Liturgically: Nurturing faith amid busy family life

 

Jacob Broussard is a Sales Manager at DarkVision Technologies. He lives in Thibodaux with his wife Michele and their four children Elizabeth, Joseph, Daniel, and Catherine. The Broussards are parishioners at St. Bridget.

“Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.” This quote by Vince Lombardi concisely expresses the current state of our family life as we navigate a growing family and a busy schedule. 

My wife, Michele, and I have four children: Elizabeth (9), Joseph (7), Daniel (2), and Catherine (5 months). I travel regularly for work, and my wife homeschools our two older children in addition to tutoring other students in middle and high school math. My children are active in competitive dancing and sports, and we try to squeeze in time with family and friends wherever possible. With all these activities and obligations, so many of our days are spent on autopilot just to get to and through everything! 

Referring again to Lombardi’s words, our lives at present are more defined by our habits than by routines. We are pulled in too many directions to establish many routines, and our schedules often change week by week. The one exception to this rule, however, is Sunday. Mass is a non-negotiable no matter where we are. We built the habit as a family of waking up on Sunday morning and attending Mass, and this habit extends to vacations, dance competitions, and beyond. 

We are not the only family in this stage of life, and we are certainly not the only family attending Masses at unfamiliar churches across the country during the summer months. I knew many families as I was growing up who attended churches near vacation spots that they frequented every summer. We were even able to ask for recommendations for churches near Disney World a couple of years ago! 

“Watch your actions, they become your habits.” Attending Mass is not a routine for us, it is a habit. Our primary purpose at this stage in our lives is to instill in our children a fervent love for Jesus and a commitment to the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. We made the decision to prioritize attending Mass above all else, and acted on that decision each Sunday until the action became a habit. While they are certainly not jumping out of bed at 6:30 a.m. ready to receive the Eucharist and absolutely do their fair share of fidgeting during Mass, our children have grown to appreciate the significance of their Sunday obligation.

“… Watch your habits, they become your character.” The habit of attending Mass every week quickly blossomed into more as my wife was asked to cantor at our church, our children became active in the children’s liturgy program and trained as altar servers, and we began participating in activities outside of our regular Mass time. As a family we grew closer to our priest and to many of the other parishioners. Over time, our church became our home, and our family’s commitment to a strong faith life grew substantially. 

Our faith life grew beyond our Sunday obligation and became an important part of our daily lives in unexpected ways. I have found myself in many fruitful conversations with colleagues about faith at dinners and industry events. My wife and I both participate in Bible studies with our friends, and those discussions often make their way into our dinner table conversations. Our children have listened to and participated in most of these conversations and have asked some pretty excellent questions! 

Habits are hard to break, both good and bad. When good habits grow into relationships or traditions, we are willing to put aside many things to maintain them. Consider some of your most treasured family traditions and the lengths to which you would go to preserve them for future generations. We feel this way about our family’s faith life. It has become so much more than a habit, and we have decided that we are willing to make any number of sacrifices to preserve it. This is becoming more challenging as our children get older and more involved in activities, but it has been proven time and time again that it is well worth the effort. Summer is the perfect time to begin, reestablish, or strengthen these habits with your family.