God Saves Families, by Alfred Hanley

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. (Acts 16:31, RSVCE)

We have all known extraordinarily devout Catholic families which exhibit marked sanctity and virtue. Consider one such family, the parents of which, Louis and Zélie Martin, are canonized saints, whose five daughters, their only surviving children of nine, all became nuns, and of whom one is recognized as one of the greatest saints of the modern era: Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Surely, there was more than good training here. For this household was, as a body, beneficiary of a primal grace commonly bestowed by God upon families through the faith of a particular member or members, typically the father and/or mother.

It is of course true that the piety of such families—led by parents who earnestly practice and deliberately teach the Catholic faith—is attributable at least in part to the strong influence of conditioning. In the realm of the spiritual, such communally lived holiness cannot be fully explained by the natural process of inculcation. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Grace perfects nature.” Grace is of a different, higher order. It is communicated by God supernaturally. …

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