Scripture in Our Family

By Rachel Balducci 

Our relationship with sacred scripture has always adjusted to our needs. When our six children were very little, we couldn’t have family prayer that looked like it does now that our youngest child is eleven. 

When our children were in elementary school, they would have a scripture verse to memorize each week. This was part of their grade for Bible class, a subject that included understanding the stories in the Bible and learning about basic Christian living. They got this at home, Lord willing, but it was nice to have it reiterated at school. 

This memorization was a very simple assignment, but it created a beautiful focus on scripture in our home. We had one year where four of our boys were in elementary school at the same time. We would post the scripture verse on the refrigerator, which was central to the whole house. Throughout the week each of my sons was working to memorize one or two lines of the sacred text. It made scripture very central practically—posted there on our fridge—and also spiritually. We had to remember to memorize that verse. Our grades depended on it! 

Last year our youngest child finished elementary school, which meant no more weekly scripture memorization. Now we have four children who are college-age and two in middle school, so our family focus on scripture looks different. 

This summer I took our youngest two children to a Catholic family camp in the mountains of South Carolina. One beautiful part of each day was saying the Divine Office. All the families at the camp would gather for the morning prayer and we would end the day together with the evening prayer. It was such a blessing. 

After coming home from the camp, Paul and I have continued to do this with the two children who are still at home. This might not have worked peacefully when everyone was little (and when we had six children at home we were trying to get out the door to school in the morning or off to bed at night!). With bigger kids, we can have morning and evening prayer as a family.  

Using the Liturgy of the Hours, we spend about ten minutes in the morning doing the Divine Office and another ten in the evening. It’s a peaceful, profound way to focus our morning and evening. We are working to be centered on God and his Word. We also feed a big group of college guys once a week (two of our sons included) and we use the evening prayer of the Divine Office to begin our meal. 

I love that there are so many ways to make scripture a part of family life. When our children were very little, my husband and I would read to them from illustrated bible stories. One family favorite was Tomie dePaola’s Book of Bible Stories, along with a Catholic picture bible for children that one of my boys got from his godfather. Those pictures really made the stories come to life. 

A few years ago, my husband and I traveled to the Holy Land with a group from our diocese. What a life-changing experience that was! This trip made scripture come alive in a new and profound way and we brought that home to our children. The next week at Mass, the gospel featured one of the places we had just visited. It was mind-blowing!  

Scripture is God’s gift to us, his wisdom poured out. I’m grateful that he’s shown us so many ways to allow it to be a part of family life, no matter what season that family is in. 

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