I LOVE video games! I grew up with the original Nintendo system in my parents’ home, and have followed Nintendo since then from system to system! (The only one I missed was the N64, but I had friends who had one!) Videos games provide so much joy to me because of the complexity, the puzzles, the need to have a strategy for each level in each game! I love getting to know the characters in the different franchises and piecing together the stories of their lives, it’s so very awesome!

I open with all that so that because as much as I love video games, there is also a danger to them. They are in many ways an escape from reality. If not kept in check a father could find himself not physically abandoning his family, but mentally abandoning them. A child could miss their own childhood for a digitally made up childhood instead. A family could find themselves under the same roof but mentally living in completely different worlds. Finally, a Christian could find himself believing in Jesus, but giving his Faith to a video game.

We could easily change out video games in this instance for any number of things: TV, movies, magazines, teen sports, college sports, fantasy novels, or phone apps! All of these things are great and offer us so many wonderful experiences! But they have to be kept in check so that we don’t abandon what matters most.

A key example is I remember very vividly, at my last parish, a mother who many times when Confirmation class, or even Mass came up; her teen was not there because of sports, homework, or a need to rest. Then when that teen hit high school, that same mother came to me in tears because her teen did not want to go to church, or have a relationship with God. It left that mother hurt, and wondering where she went wrong.
That story has stuck with me and in many ways haunted me for years. It’s a reminder to me about what is actually important for me, my family, and our salvation. I like video games, but they can’t remove me from my family and calling as a husband and Father. I’m sure my kids will grow up to like sports, but I need to strive to ensure that we do all we can to make sure those sports do not divide us as a family. My kids will have homework, and I will have places to take them. But at the end of the day it will be mine and my wife’s job to show them how to keep Christ, prayer, and our family, at the center of a busy schedule. It’s a lesson that I am reminded of often in my own mind, and I hope it gives some benefit to you as well. We are all headed towards the same place after all!