(2 minute read)
Last July, my neighbor asked my then 5 year old son how his summer was going. My son responded, “It’s going great. We have parties, like… every day. (big sigh) Yah, we’re party people.”
I laughed so hard as I assured my neighbor that we don’t actually have parties *every* day, but my son wasn’t entirely wrong – we are party people.
Let me explain. Like most people, we love to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, holidays, graduations, and promotions. But it’s more than that.
We get ice cream and cake for Baptism anniversaries and patron saint feast days. We meet up with friends and extended family for solemnities and holy days. A group of our friends prepares to send our kids back to school each year by gathering, praying over them together, and having food and music and laughter late into the evening. We welcome our teens and tweens home from Catholic Youth Summer Camp by hearing their testimonies, having them lead our families in prayer… and having food and music and laughter late into the evening.
The occasions are different, but we mark things that matter with prayer and partying. We act like something special has happened because it actually has.
The truth is this: what we celebrate, grows. What we celebrate becomes cemented as something meaningful and wonderful in the minds and hearts of our kids.
Pope St. John Paul II said it like this: “We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song.”
In other words, as Catholics, we should all be party people. We should all probably be eating more desserts (not on fasting days, of course) and spending more time coupling opportunities to pray and to laugh together. Celebrating, partying, is how we mark things that matter and invite them to continue. And nothing matters more than what God has done and is doing.
So to all Catholic families, I implore you: Party on, party people. Our kids need it.
Written by Kristen Fisher
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