Parents for Eternal Life
I recently read an article titled “The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Home Schooling – Parents for Eternal Life” by Jesuit priest Fr. John Hardon, and the following paragraph really struck me:
“...what they (children) mainly need is to know why God made them; why they are on earth at all; why they are in this world; that they are here in this life in order to prepare and train themselves for the world to come. In a word, children are to be taught that their short stay here in time is only a preparation for the world that will never end. They are to be trained for heaven.”
Our kids need to be “trained for heaven”?! What a big responsibility we parents have then! In fact, Fr. Hardon goes on to say:
“The Church teaches that, ‘Under God, parents are the first in time, first in authority, first in responsibility, first in supernatural ability, and first in dignity to educate their children for eternal life.’”
“...believing Catholic parents...must be convinced that their primary responsibility as parents is to prepare the children that God gave them - for eternal life.”
“We are told the one reason; I should say the main reason, why Catholic parents are the primary teachers of their children is because they have the supernatural grace to do so. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children’ (2225).”
“Parents must always keep this vision clearly in their minds: we are fathers and mothers of children for heaven. Our one hope is to be reunited in heaven with our families, and children and grandchildren and great, great grandchildren, in the everlasting City of Jerusalem which is our heavenly home.”
The statement above was brought even closer to home just recently, when our almost-five year old son Tim told me:
“Mama, when you’ve died and gone to heaven, can I go with you too? I want to be in heaven with you and Papa.”
Hearing her brother say this, 2-year old Rysse says: “Baba heaven also!” (Baba is her nickname – it means “baby” in Afrikaans).
Tim and Rysse – 'Jesus, we trust in You!'
I was wrong in my assumptions though. They seemed to understand my explanation that even if they could see the baby’s body, little Simon* had already gone to heaven with Jesus. Up to now, Tim still remembers to include him in our daily prayers – “we pray for baby Simon, who is already in heaven, and all the other babies who got killed in their mommies’ tummies.”
Kids’ prayer time
Reading the “Parents for Eternal Life” article, and the paragraph below, taken from the introductory page of our homeschool Kindergarten curriculum, I was reminded once again that despite being an impossibly imperfect parent to my kids, God has a plan and a purpose for me:
"Of course, our most important goal is to educate our children for eternity. How? By living and being what we want our children to be. We must be truthful, brave, forgiving, thoughtful, faithful, virtuous, self-disciplined, kind and cheerful if we want our children to be! Our Faith is caught, not taught... we can't give what we don't have. Overwhelming? Not when we remember that a baby learns to walk by falling! God measures our effort and appreciates every little thing we do for love of Him. He invites us to keep "walking" and grow more in love with Him each day."
You know what, He has a purpose for you too, dear reader! Even if you’re not a parent, the last two sentences in the paragraph above apply to you. Just keep “walking” in God’s ways, and strive to grow in love with Him every day. Perhaps this beautiful song, inspired by Psalm 139, will move you to do so:
“Even though You know, You will always love me.” What a beautiful assurance! It serves as a great reminder as well: we are not meant for this world. There is more to this life, and parents especially should remember to teach their kids that. Our final destination: HEAVEN.
We are meant for Heaven.
Greetings from a rainy Bacolod City! When I was a child in Dublin - born in 1943 - heaven was a real place for me. I can't recall if my parents spoke much about it but I certainly heard about heaven in church and in school. My mother had an expression if we found ourselves in a crowded place, 'If we have as much room in heaven we'll be alright!'
ReplyDeleteI distinctly remember when I was in Second Class (Grade Two) whenever we would be singing I imagined God as being one or two storeys above our classroom and that He was pleased with our and my singing. Many years later I was hit by that beautiful line in Ps 149, which I'd been praying for years as part of Morning Prayer, 'God takes delight in his people'.
Irish spirituality as I experienced it embraced the next life as real. Even still many will say something like 'God rest his soul' when someone deceased is mentioned. You hear this occasionally on Irish radio and TV. Wakes in Ireland, though short, are similar to wakes and the novena for the dead in the Philippines. There is a sense of hope along with the expression of grief. There is a sense of God's loving presence.
My first experience of a wake was when I was a few months shy of seven when my Auntie Madge died. She was only 26, still single, a younger sister of my mother and died of rheumatic fever. I am grateful to my late mother for taking me to the wake. I still miss my Auntie Madge but feel sorry for my younger cousins who never knew her.
When my own time comes I want people to pray for my soul, not to use my funeral Mass as a 'celebration of life'. The wake provides for that and there certainly is a place for it. But the funeral is a time for praying for the deceased. Fr Charles Meagher, a former Columban Superior in the Philippines, said in his funeral homily recently for Fr Pat Fahey, another Columban who worked for many years in hte PHilippines, 'I don't have any instructions from Pat about what to say, but I know that he has no time for eulogies. Tell the people who the deceased is and request them to pray for the deceased'. Amen to that!
Finally, back in 1976 when I was on my first visit home to Dublin I prayed by name at a Sunday Mass for priests who had served in our parish and who had died. (I couldn't recall the name of one - fortunately, as I discovered he was still alive!) A day or two later I was strolling in a park and was approached by a man with his young son. He thanked me for praying for the priests and was particularly happy that his child had heard that prayer.
God bless you!
Your children are so cute. God bless. :)
ReplyDelete