My son loves praying. He can sing the church's hymns, and recite the prayers, he even likes picking up the prayer book and he can read some of the prayers though he mostly likes mumbling a chant to be like mommy and daddy. We have him kiss the icons and identify who is on them. He goes to every liturgy that we can take him too, the Church is very much a part of life.
The other day my wife and I put up the Christmas tree, the first one he'd remember (he did have one when he was first born) and of course its exciting. Every ornament box is like a toy that needs to be unwrapped, the lights, etcetera. We celebrated by watching a bunch of Christmas cartoons about the nativity.
So, I come home from work last night and my son walks in front of the tree and he makes a posture with his hands like he is praying (two hands touching like this):
I felt this was strange because I don't remember any cartoon where they pray like this nor do we pray like this at home (we do the sign of the cross, may rise out hands to the air outstretched). I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm praying." I said, "To what?" He replied, "To the Christmas tree."
This really bothered me. I suppose I understand that due to sin, man is always liable to pray to idols, the moon--you know, big shiny things. I suppose a Christmas tree is just like that. However, I felt hurt that God would have not given the grace to protect him from such a temptation after all the communing, praying, and kissing of icons. Theologically speaking, we don't do anything bad on our own but rather we act upon demonic suggestions (this is Saint Maximus). Something had to suggest to my son that the Christmas tree was worthy of worship.
I told him, "No, not the tree, you pray to the icons."
Maybe not a perfect answer I suppose. But it shows a 3 year old certainly has eternity in their hearts and we must be vigilant to direct things the right way or they can go wayward. Comments, advice, similar stories?
The other day my wife and I put up the Christmas tree, the first one he'd remember (he did have one when he was first born) and of course its exciting. Every ornament box is like a toy that needs to be unwrapped, the lights, etcetera. We celebrated by watching a bunch of Christmas cartoons about the nativity.
So, I come home from work last night and my son walks in front of the tree and he makes a posture with his hands like he is praying (two hands touching like this):
I felt this was strange because I don't remember any cartoon where they pray like this nor do we pray like this at home (we do the sign of the cross, may rise out hands to the air outstretched). I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm praying." I said, "To what?" He replied, "To the Christmas tree."
This really bothered me. I suppose I understand that due to sin, man is always liable to pray to idols, the moon--you know, big shiny things. I suppose a Christmas tree is just like that. However, I felt hurt that God would have not given the grace to protect him from such a temptation after all the communing, praying, and kissing of icons. Theologically speaking, we don't do anything bad on our own but rather we act upon demonic suggestions (this is Saint Maximus). Something had to suggest to my son that the Christmas tree was worthy of worship.
I told him, "No, not the tree, you pray to the icons."
Maybe not a perfect answer I suppose. But it shows a 3 year old certainly has eternity in their hearts and we must be vigilant to direct things the right way or they can go wayward. Comments, advice, similar stories?
