Faith and Foundation

My name is Deepa George, also known as Mary. I was born and raised in a Catholic family - daughter, wife and mother of two. Going back to the early years of my faith life…Yes, I went to church, said my prayers and rosary but, it was out of sheer pressure from my grandmothers (both paternal and maternal), or because had some favours to ask. For me God was a vending machine, you ask a list of things and once you get it, check mark. But that laid the foundation, knowingly or unknowingly, something was inscribed in my heart, that it is to Him I should go to, especially when the tide is against me. As the journey continued, I learned that, faith is a relationship between me and my God. For any relationship for that matter, communication is central and it is same with your relationship with God. My father always used to remined us that “prayer is a dialog between creator and creation.”  He always encouraged us to have a personal relationship with God. When you have a strong relationship with God, it will emanate positive effects on your relationship with other fellow beings as well. Faith leads us to hope and help us to have a meaningful family life that is rooted in love.

Why is praying together as a family is important?  As the famous saying goes, “A family that prays together stays together.” Prayer strengthens the bonding between family members, it is like a cozy blanket that wraps all the members of the family together. Jesus Himself has promised “For where two or three gathers in my name, I am there among them.” (Mathew 18:20) When families gather around in prayer, His invisible presence and assuring words hold us together and fill us with a sense of security, confidence and hope. Hence, it helps us to have a positive disposition towards life. Besides family prayer time is an opportune time for the family members to share and bond.

“In giving you are receiving” famous quote by St. Francis of Assisi. If you want to give ten dollars to someone, you should have ten dollars with you in order to give it. Same with self-giving love, if you don’t have love within you, how will you give it? Love is a supernatural gift from God. How do you receive this gift? God in His goodness freely gives this to everyone, the more you ask, the more will be given. This is the beauty of prayer, God who is all good and all loving, loves to give us precious gifts. And sharing this gift with others that is what makes our life meaningful.  Moreover, when He endows us with gifts such as love, patience, perseverance... it become our second nature, you don’t have to exert, it will come spontaneously and we radiate it to others. That is why it is so important have both personal prayer and family prayer.