THE LIVING WORD
Reading Scripture from
the Heart of the Church
The Family,
Bearer of the Covenant
Dr. Mary Healy
I
n contrast to priestly and monastic spirituality,
little has been said in Christian history on the
spirituality of the family. There have been relatively
few distinctive models of holiness for married couples
raising children to draw upon. Until recently, the vast
majority of canonized saints were celibate religious.
Thus God continually commands parents
Yet ironically, the spirituality of family is
to teach their children the ways of the Lord.
the primordial spirituality of God’s people.
“These words which I command you this
From Genesis on, Scripture teaches that
day shall be upon your heart; and you shall
God relates to human beings in the family
teach them diligently to your children” (Dt
and as a family. The very first blessing and
6:6-7). The teaching is not only in words
commandment have to do with the family:
but in gestures and rituals that deeply form
“God blessed them, and God said to them,
the heart of the child.
‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’”
The central liturgy of Israel, the Passover,
(Gn 1:28). God’s blessing is then passed
took place not in the temple but the home,
down through the generations through the
and this ritual was to be a teachable moment.
custom of parents blessing their children
“When your children say to you, ‘What do
(Gn 27:25; 48:9).
you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It
When God began to form a chosen peois the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, for
ple, he made a covenant with Abraham not
as an isolated individual but as a husband
he passed over the houses of the people of
and father whose whole family was blessed
Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but
along with him. God
spared our houses’” (Ex
said of Sarah, “I will
“The central liturgy of 12:26-27). Children learn
bless her, and moreover
that it was not only their
Israel took place not
I will give you a son by
remote ancestors who
in the temple but the
her; . . . she shall be a
experienced the Lord’s
mother of nations; kings
mighty act of redemphome.”
of peoples shall come
tion but they, themselves.
from her” (Gn 17:16). The family becomes
They, themselves, are parties to the covenant.
the bearer of the covenant, the setting in
Likewise, the visible signs commemoratwhich the covenant with God is concretely
ing God’s great deeds, such as the memoexperienced and lived, and by which it enrial stones set up at the Jordan River, are
dures through history.
an occasion for catechizing children in
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Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2015
the covenant: “When your children ask in
time to come, ‘What do those stones mean
to you?’ Then you shall tell them that the
waters of the Jordan were cut off before the
ark of the covenant of the LORD, when it
passed over the Jordan” (Jos 4:6-7).
In the biblical wisdom literature, wisdom
is passed on not in an academic environment but in the family, from mothers and
fathers to their children. “Hear, my son,
your father’s instruction, and reject not your
mother’s teaching” (Prv 1:8, cf. 31:1; Sir 3:2).
Through the prophet Malachi, God
warns that the breakdown of the family is
a grave matter because it impairs the ability
of the next generation to live as God’s holy
people: “What does [God] desire? Godly
offspring. So take heed to yourselves, and
let none be faithless to the wife of his youth.
‘For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of
Israel’” (Mal 2:15-16).
As the Church today reflects on the pastoral care of family, we must rediscover this
biblical wisdom concerning the centrality
of the family in God’s plan.
Dr. Mary Healy is associate professor of Sacred
Scripture at Sacred Heart.