When I returned home from school each day, my parents were sure to ask me, “What’s your homework for tonight?” Eager to go outside or to watch television, I would minimize my assignments. But mom and dad knew better.
By gentle but persistent questioning, they managed to find out what my homework assignments were and they made sure I did them. Before long, I came to realize it was better just to be upfront about what I was supposed to do.
Back in those days, my homework assignments included memorizing questions and answers from the Baltimore Catechism. Growing up in Southern Indiana, I never imagined I would be the Archbishop of Baltimore and live in the house where the Baltimore Catechism was first proposed. If I had known, maybe I would have been more diligent.
Looking back, it’s easy to see that mom and dad’s interest in my homework was one of the many ways they showed their love for me. Of course, they wanted me to do well in school. But their love for me ran deeper than good grades. They wanted me to become the person God meant me to be. They wanted me to know and love the Lord, to cherish my faith, to grow in virtue and to find my calling. This was the “homework” that God assigned to mom and dad, and despite my resistance, they fulfilled their assignment with integrity and love. May they rest in peace!
With the opening of a new school year, our students once again face the prospect of homework. In this digital age, homework is a lot different than it used to be. So, also, are the distractions. It’s no longer just riding bikes or watching television. I am often amazed at the after-school activities in which our students are involved. All this can be good, but it makes the completion of homework assignments more challenging.
But let me reiterate. It’s not only students who have homework. Parents have homework too. In fact, their homework is even more challenging than the assignments their sons and daughters bring home. For their “assignment” is not merely to ensure that their children and young people are doing well in school or that they are on a path to future success. More than that, they are God’s instruments in forming their children in faith, in helping them know and love the Lord and his Church, in setting the example of practicing the faith, and in helping their children to grow in virtue and develop their God-given talents.
Perhaps the rite of baptism says it best. When a couple presents their child for baptism, the priest or deacon says: “You are the first teachers of your children in the ways of faith. May you be the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith by what you say and do.”
The challenging homework assigned to parents is to create a truly Christian home; a place of prayer, love and security; a place where children are loved and where they learn how to love; a place where young people are formed in faith and virtue and where they begin to find the path in life to which God is calling them.
Faith formation cannot be achieved solely in the classroom. Even the best teacher, catechist or youth minister cannot fully substitute for the role of loving parents. Nor is formation in the faith automatic. In this secular world, we must be intentional about passing on the faith to young people. That is why “homework” – the homework that parents do – is more critical than ever.
Dear parents: You are the first of teachers. May you be the best of teachers!
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