Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1498114
A ccording to a recent Pew Research Center report, only 1 in 3 Catholic parents consider it "very important" for their children to share their faith. While we should be grateful for that third of the Catholic population, we should also be frightened at the thought that more than half of Catholic par- ents don't likewise consider it very important for their children to share their faith. As we see in Scripture, disastrous consequences follow when the chosen people of God do "what is right in their own eyes" and neglect to hand on God's commands and the faith to "the next generation." In the Old Testament, God repeatedly reminds Israel to hand on the faith to the next generation. In Exodus 12:25-27, we read of the Passover Feast, "And when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your chil- dren say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" The Israelites were to tell the story of the Passover from generation to generation, re-telling the story until it permeated the very air they breathed. The Exodus was meant to become the paradigm, the very lens by which Israel would view not only the past, but also the future. For what God did for ancestors, he can and will do for us. This was to be the hope of Israel in every age of persecu- tion and oppression, be it Canaanite assault, Assyrian invasion, Babylo- nian captivity, or Roman occupation. God similarly exhorts the Israelites to teach the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.") to their children in every generation. ⊲ The Exodus was meant to become the paradigm, the very lens by which Israel would view not only the past, but also the future. For what God did for ancestors, he can and will do for us." 27 DENVER CATHOLIC | APRIL 2023