All Saints’ Day is a yearly opportunity to be powerfully moved by the reality of holiness and the true impact that a relationship with Jesus Christ had on countless numbers of Christians. The variety of personalities and individual characteristics is endless: There are saints who had deeply sinful pasts, saints who died as teenagers, and saints who shed their blood rather than renounce their faith — and so many more holy souls.

As a young dad of three kids, my wife and I have been reflecting on how to infuse the lives of the saints more into our home and the hearts of our children as they grow. The more years I have as a dad, husband and teacher, the more I am convinced that bringing young people into contact with the saints brings about profound transformation. There is something about their witness and the concrete nature of their words that convicts us to desire holiness.

As a family, we have incorporated a few practical ways to make the saints more familiar to our kids. First, we bought a saints’ calendar. We have found that placing this physical calendar in our kitchen is a tangible reminder to think about the saints more as a domestic church.

The door we placed it on is in between the dining room and kitchen, one of the busiest spots of the house. The colors of the calendar are attractive, and the kids have begun to ask, “What is today?” This simple practice has opened the door for more casual conversations about the faith and these holy men and women.

Second, we always reference the saint of the day at the end of praying grace before dinner. We will briefly ask for the intercession of the saint while my wife Joanna or I give a less-than-one-minute explanation of something the person did. We tend to highlight how a witness or word of the person has helped us in our own lives. Not only has this aided the faith of our kids, it has reminded us of the impact that so many saints have had on us over the years.

Finally, we made the decision this past summer to print out 4-by-6 pictures of a few saints a month to place inside of a picture frame in the prayer space in our house. We intentionally decide on the saints we want to focus on; and each time we pray as a family, we reference the picture and share something about the life of this holy man or woman. This visual, similar to the calendar, has truly become a starting point of discussion for the kids. They begin to wait and see who will be next in the pictorial remembrances of our spiritual family members.

All of these practices are forming our hearts into becoming more Christ-centered and, hopefully, bringing about more opportunities for our kids to encounter Jesus through his saints. Ultimately, these small actions have made us more prepared to celebrate All Saints’ Day every day — not just one day of the year. For me, the reminder of these “cloud of witnesses” is what I need to stay rooted in faith, hope and love. As a family, there is nothing more important.