There is nothing like a song to aid in memorization! I may not be able to remember who wrote Paradise Lost, but I do know that “my bologna has a first name, it’s O-s-c-a-r; my bologna has a second name, it’s M-a-y-e-r.” And I can easily spout off all the states in the Union, in alphabetical order, thanks to elementary chorus and the rollicking tune 50 Nifty United States.
Clearly, once children have memorized a song, it has the potential to stay with them forever. When we are teaching the faith to our children, we can use song to help them to recall the things that Jesus said, Church teaching, and salvation history.
Singing is also a beautiful way to pray. Even if children blindly memorize a song and don’t understand what they are singing, later that song can come back to “haunt” them (in the best of ways). The following is a story I tell in my book, Everyday Heroism: 28 Daily Reflections on the Little Way of Motherhood:
My absolute favorite way to pray as a family with young children is singing in the car. When my kids were little, we did this for hours on end during frequent road trips. Thankfully, there are many resources available to help parents sing with their children—everything from Christian radio to simple scriptural memorization songs to Gregorian chant. [After years of singing together, I could see how these faith based songs were truly influencing my children’s ability to connect with God.] One night, after the children were in bed, I heard the sweet, soft tones of the hymn “More Precious Than Silver” drifting down the stairs. I tiptoed nearer and realized it was the angelic soprano voice of my rowdy, sports-minded, seven-year-old son, Dominic. I didn’t even know he could sing!
Imagine if your child memorized as little as one song per year based on a scripture verse, such as Psalm 23, plus a song that teaches a foundational Catholic teaching, such as the Beatitudes. If a child memorizes just two songs per year starting at three years old, by the time they are in 8th grade they will have memorized 30 songs!
A couple more faith-based items children can easily memorize through song:
- The 73 books of the Bible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3jqnE4aPj0
- The names of the apostles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfi3JRR1Nfc
- The Divine Mercy chaplet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKj1I0hBxWw&t=376s
- The Magnificat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i85XG4OwQ8s
- Proverbs 18:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZUb9n-3was
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A87Zkw4_vqM
St. Thomas Aquinas said, “We must be anxious and earnest about the things we wish to remember, because the more a thing is impressed on the mind, the less it is liable to slip out of it.” Even if everything else we teach our children should, “slip out” of their minds, we have achieved a beautiful result if they can sing of the goodness of God and His truth.
Also published at Catholicmom.com.