Faith and extended family are priorities for the Saldana family
It’s a year of sacraments for the Saldana family, longtime members of St. Mary Parish in Sacramento. Winter Saldana, 15, and her brother, Reign, 14, will receive the sacrament of confirmation on March 15. Sunday, 9, and her brother, Navy, 7, will receive first reconciliation on March 12 and first Eucharist on May 2.
Their parents, Ricardo and Monica, who were married at St. Mary in 2002, couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate these milestones with their extended family. Winter and Reign are often altar servers during the 8 a.m. Sunday Mass. Ricardo serves as state programs director for the Knights of Columbus in California. Ricardo’s parents, Laura and Miguel, reside in their home and often help with transporting children to faith formation and various other activities.
While all of their children have been active in competitive cross country and soccer, Ricardo and Monica say that their faith permeates the daily life of their family: in family meals, bedtime rituals and prayer; family conversations; displaying sacred objects and religious images; celebrating holidays; providing moral instruction; and engaging in family devotions. They place importance on caring conversation, rituals and traditions, devotions and service.
“Our children know it’s important to have faith and extended family in their lives,” Monica says. “This is our foundation, something strong they can build their lives upon. They are growing into wonderful young people and we are so grateful that they know God and our parish community are there for them always.”
Ricardo notes that “we encourage prayer throughout their day, not just at meals or when they go to bed at night. When they find little moments of happiness or something they are grateful for during their day, such as something in nature or with their friends, we encourage them to say a little prayer that they are thankful for that moment.”
“A close-knit team” is how Monica describes their multigenerational family. “Ricardo’s parents living with us brings a wealth of knowledge, history and community into our home. It gives me chills to talk about it. Because we have them here, they help us through every aspect of our lives.”
Ricardo, who has a somewhat flexible work schedule as a real estate broker, adds: “When there are days where our kids are in four locations, we divide and conquer” transportation with the help of his parents.
Monica and Ricardo say faith formation classes are a priority, so that their children grow and mature in their faith. They also cherish moments such as bringing up the offertory gifts as a family during Mass, when Winter and Reign are altar servers. “It’s heartening to know my family is deeply involved with the church,” Monica says. “I’m becoming a Eucharistic minister and Winter already wants to be one when she graduates from being an altar server. Sunday and Navy can’t wait to be altar servers.”
All four children say they enjoy celebrating as a family the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe for a week in December. “We light seven-day candles weekly. We say a prayer for what we were grateful for during the last week and what we will be thankful for in the coming week,” Ricardo notes. “God is with us every day of our lives and we like to have reminders such as this. We have holy water by our front door that we can use to bless ourselves. We say a decade of the rosary daily.”
Monica adds: “As a family, we have talked about how we don’t need to hide our faith when we are out in public. It’s OK to say to another family having a difficulty that we are praying for you and family. It can’t hurt anyone or do any harm to bring the joy from our family to your family. People usually respond with saying ‘wow’ and ‘thank you.’ It’s wonderful to know my kids feel comfortable doing this and not ridiculed.”
Volunteering as a family has also held special meaning. The Saldanas have participated in the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco, 40 Days for Life prayer vigils at local abortion clinics and numerous Knights of Columbus events. This past Advent, Monica made calendars which the children delivered to other families. “They enjoy seeing how something small like this can bring other families joy,” she says.
“We are just doing what families of faith do for their communities, and the children celebrate with us by being involved,” Ricardo says. “I remind them they are the next generation who will be forming Catholic families – that it will be their turn to spread the faith to their children. They are somebody’s first impression of what it is to be a Catholic family. If others see what we are doing, it might inspire them to be involved in the church.”
There’s no “perfect plan” for a family to live out their faith, Monica notes. “We can try and plan to be very structured, but sometimes our plan is not God’s plan,” she chuckles. “We have to trust and go with that, which has made us stronger as a family. Our kids even point out to us that God wants us here for a reason and the Holy Spirit is our guide.”