“Honor your father and mother, as
the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may
go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving” (Deut 5:16). Parents who cooperate with God in the act of creation deserve
the primary place in the family. Therefore the act of creation should be
consummated in a state of grace and mutual love. It is not from the body but
from the spirit a child is born. Therefore children are not of the parents but
of God.
When children look at their father, they should see in him
divine fatherhood. Parents and children are bonded together by love and blood
relationship. Parental relations are very close to divine relationship and
divine decisions are conveyed through parents. Generations are blessed through the parents. In
the bible, we see how Jacob blesses his twelve children by foreseeing the
divine scheme regarding them. We can even see story of a competition between
Jacob and Esau to get the blessing from the father by pleasing him. Blessing
will flow freely on to those children who obey their parents. “For a
father’s blessing strengthens the houses of the children, but a mother’s curse
uproots their foundations” (Sir 3:9)
It is good to make an examination to find out whether behind
the problems and crises faced by some children there is a lack of blessings
from parents. This might be the reason for some families not achieving success
in spite of their strenuous endeavors. In order not to bring up the tears of
parents before God, children and parents should forgive, bless and love one
another and pray earnestly. If the parents don’t do that, their children will
never be successful.
Only when there are model couples there will be children who
would be upright. The defects and character traits of parents can be seen
throughout their life. Parents who are alcoholic and drug addicts, who spend
their wealth prodigally, who spend their days in fights and other idle
pursuits, are destroying their progeny. If children don’t obey and respect
their parents, parents should examine themselves to see if there was any
deficiency in their children’s upbringing.
Parents have a
responsibility to bring up their children in the fear and love of God. Parents should be exemplary models
to their children in things like tolerance, love, mutual respect, unprejudiced
affection, unselfish love, fidelity and humility. They have an obligation to
help the children choose their vocation.
“Pamper the child, and he will
terrorize you; play with him and will grieve you. Do not laugh with him, or you
will have sorrow with him, and in the end you will gnash your teeth. Give him
no freedom in his youth, and do not ignore his errors. Bow down his neck in his
youth, and beat his sides while he is young, or else he will become stubborn
and disobey you, and you will have sorrow of soul from him” (Sirach 30: 9-12)
No comments:
Post a Comment