7 Ways of Helping Your Kids Get to Heaven

Why Did God Make Me? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven. ~Baltimore Catechism; Part I, Question 6

The Life of Man- To Know and Love God 1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

The Desire for God The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for… ~ CCC #27

Vocation of Christian Parents Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the “first heralds” for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life. ~ CCC #2225

Vocation of Parents Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self- mastery – the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.” ~CCC 2223

7 Ways to Help your children get to Heaven

#1: Modeling the joy and intimacy of faith by praying together as a family.  Witness of prayer  Model prayer…throughout the day/week

#2: Attend Mass Every Sunday The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian Life. ~ CCC 1324

#3: Give together As A Family  Food/clothing drive, go to a homeless shelter together, various volunteer activities

#4: Honor the Saints Saints’ Days And Baptismal Days, as well as birthdays, etc., so that there are lots of little “parties” to mark the liturgical year and witness the lives of the saints and our call to be saints.

#5: Demanding excellence and service from children  Chores, help for elderly neighbors, assisting siblings, visiting Grandma, writing thank you notes, helping to clean or build something that makes life better for someone, etc.

#6: Encouraging them to talk with you about absolutely anything and framing it all in light of our faith  Open Communication  Teachable Moments

#7: Faith being normative to making daily decisions Is the Faith seen as compartmentalized?

Faith, Trust, & Charity  Do not let the devil discourage you  Decide to be counter-cultural  Spend time with your children (not just “quality time”)  Look to Christ…seek His ways, beg for his grace and mercy.

Holy Guardian of my child, from the first moment that I conceived You were made by the all loving God, Guardian and Protector of my child. Guide this child in all his(her) ways. Show him(her) the will of God, Teach him(her) the commandments, Obtain for him (her) the grace and strength to do God’s will and obey His laws. Help him (her) to overcome the temptations of the world and of the flesh, to walk the narrow part of virtue and after death to live with You in the eternal bliss of Heaven and Praise God for ever. Amen.