Feast of the Holy Family: "Watching You"

There’s a new song on the country stations.
It’s sung by Rodney Atkins and is called “Watching You.”

It opens with a father driving down the road
with his four-year-old boy strapped in a car seat next to him.
The boy is eating a Happy Meal.
A light changes to red,
the father slams on the brakes.
French fries go flying through the air
and orange drink covers the boy’s lap.
And the boy says a bad word.
The dad looks at the boy and says,
“Son, where did you learn to talk to like that?”

And the boy says,
“I’ve been watching you, Dad.
Ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I’m going to be just like you
And eat all my food and grow as tall you are.
We got cowboy boots and camo pants.
Hey, we’re just alike, ain’t we, Dad?
I’m going to be just like you,
so I’ve watching you.”

I love this song!
And it think it’s good song to help us appreciate
the message in today’s readings on this Feast of the Holy Family
because, as the song unfolds,
you find that when the father and boy get home,
the dad goes out to the barn.
He’s concerned..
He’s not providing his son a good example,
he’s not being the kind of father he knows he should be.

He prays real hard,
“God, help me help my stupid self.”

Later that night,
he gets his boy ready for bed.
And he watches as his son
kneels at the side of the bed
and closes his eyes and folds his hand
and the father says,
“Son, where did you learn to pray like that.”

And the boy says,
“I’ve been watching you.”

The message of that song rings true
and we all know how true it is.

It’s echoed in the constant reminder
that every Catholic parent hears
when they seek to have a child baptized.

From the day of that baptism
and all through the formative years of that child,
the parents hold the important position
of being the primary teachers of the faith.

How does it happen?

As in kindergarten,
it all starts with Show and Tell:

The statue of Mary on the bedroom dresser.
The nativity scene beneath the Christmas tree.
The grace before meals.
The kneeling at the side of the bed
and learning the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, and the Act of Contrition.

It starts with show and tell
then moves on to Praise and Thanksgiving.

The child begins to explore the world
and learns that God made the sun and the moon and the stars.

And God gives us friends and we learn to be nice to them
and they, in turn, are nice to use.
And some friends are black and some are white and some speak Spanish.
And we are all God’s children.

And when families go on vacation to Lake Michigan
or the Smokey Mountains
the children learn that all the world is big and beautiful
and comes from the hand of God.
And so our children learn to end each day
with thankful hearts because God made the world beautiful and good
and life is a wonderful, wonderful gift from God.

And soon it’s time for First Communion
and our children learn that God is as close to them
as the Bread and Wine on the Altar.
But they understand the mystery only insofar
as they understand that God is also as close as the bread and butter
on the table at home in the kitchen.

This is how it starts.
This is how faith is first placed in tender hearts.

And this faith can’t help but grow and mature
within the safety of the home
where children first taste the reality
of a love that knows no limit.

This is why we celebrate this feast of the Holy Family.

Because life is sacred…
when families are holy.

“Son, where’d you learn to pray like that?”

“I’ve been watching you, Dad.
Ain’t that cool?”