Rev. Fr. Stephen Thachil in one of his Sunday Special masses celebrated every second Sunday at St.Thomas Mount, Chennai, gave a sermon on "Why/How to lead a pious family life". Following is an excerpt of what got in my mind and heart:
"Dear brothers and sisters, elders and children, have you ever thought about how we prepare our children to live and succeed in life.
In a typical nuclear family today, we bring up children buying and providing to whatever he/she may ask without even questioning the need/impact of it, just to satisfy them and keep them happy.
More importantly, we give them education. An education which starts at about 3 years of age and goes up-till 21 years when they would have graduated as an engineer/doctor in most cases. In some cases this extends beyond to get a post graduation or doctorate.
At minimum, all these 18 years of schooling is to prepare our children for 8 hours of their everyday life which we call as the career. Think about it, 18 years of worldly education which is focused to equip our children to succeed in 8 hours our their daily life. 18 years to enable facing 1/3rd of every day life.
But do you know what decides success in a person's life. It is the 16 hours of personal life everyday which decides the success or failure of a person. It is in this 16 hours where a person lives his/her role as a son/daughter, as a bachelor/spinster, as a husband/wife, as a parent/citizen, as a friend/relative. So it is this 16 hours, or 2/3 of a day's time, which decides the success of a person's life.
Now, how much have we prepared them during their early 18 years for the 16 hours of their life as a grown-up. A simple maths will say if 18 years for 8 hours then 36 years for 16 hours.
The question is do we even think about this. We think of our children as more of a human-being, just in the mere biological sense, who needs to be capable enough to feed, cloth and shelter. More often we fail to recognize and give due importance to nurture and grow the spiritual part of our children's life, without which they can never be a complete human-being as how God intended when he created us.
An example of this negligence can be seen everywhere today. Children could not accept failure in exams and go the extent of committing suicide, one of the most grievous sins. Likewise youth could not accept failure in love, employed cannot handle stress at work, married could not be true to their vows, married could not handle the commitments of raising a family.
Now, this is not to say a school education is to be avoided. But rather, it is to say that moral education and spiritual growth is more important. The moral education and spiritual growth has to start at home. In fact, in the modern world, the spiritual teaching has to come from home and parents for the most part.
Parents have to lead an exemplary christian life. When i was a little boy, as I get up to use the restroom at night, I had always seen my mother holding the rosary above her chest in her hands. This very sight has taught me the importance of doing a rosary more than any other lecture. These days, when a boy or a girl wake up at night, what do they see their mother or father holding on to.
Be careful on how you conduct yourself, because it has a greater impact on molding the character of your children. Be careful about what you see on tv, about what music you listen to, about the comments you make about others, especially elders, about how respectful, loving and caring you are towards your spouse.
For the scripture says, "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.".
So my dear parents and grand-parents, it is your duty to recognize your children as a spiritual being, more than a mere biological being. It is your responsibility to grow your children in their spiritual life so that it leads to a successful personal life of their own in future, by leading an exemplary christian life yourself. "
"Dear brothers and sisters, elders and children, have you ever thought about how we prepare our children to live and succeed in life.
In a typical nuclear family today, we bring up children buying and providing to whatever he/she may ask without even questioning the need/impact of it, just to satisfy them and keep them happy.
More importantly, we give them education. An education which starts at about 3 years of age and goes up-till 21 years when they would have graduated as an engineer/doctor in most cases. In some cases this extends beyond to get a post graduation or doctorate.
At minimum, all these 18 years of schooling is to prepare our children for 8 hours of their everyday life which we call as the career. Think about it, 18 years of worldly education which is focused to equip our children to succeed in 8 hours our their daily life. 18 years to enable facing 1/3rd of every day life.
But do you know what decides success in a person's life. It is the 16 hours of personal life everyday which decides the success or failure of a person. It is in this 16 hours where a person lives his/her role as a son/daughter, as a bachelor/spinster, as a husband/wife, as a parent/citizen, as a friend/relative. So it is this 16 hours, or 2/3 of a day's time, which decides the success of a person's life.
Now, how much have we prepared them during their early 18 years for the 16 hours of their life as a grown-up. A simple maths will say if 18 years for 8 hours then 36 years for 16 hours.
The question is do we even think about this. We think of our children as more of a human-being, just in the mere biological sense, who needs to be capable enough to feed, cloth and shelter. More often we fail to recognize and give due importance to nurture and grow the spiritual part of our children's life, without which they can never be a complete human-being as how God intended when he created us.
An example of this negligence can be seen everywhere today. Children could not accept failure in exams and go the extent of committing suicide, one of the most grievous sins. Likewise youth could not accept failure in love, employed cannot handle stress at work, married could not be true to their vows, married could not handle the commitments of raising a family.
Now, this is not to say a school education is to be avoided. But rather, it is to say that moral education and spiritual growth is more important. The moral education and spiritual growth has to start at home. In fact, in the modern world, the spiritual teaching has to come from home and parents for the most part.
Parents have to lead an exemplary christian life. When i was a little boy, as I get up to use the restroom at night, I had always seen my mother holding the rosary above her chest in her hands. This very sight has taught me the importance of doing a rosary more than any other lecture. These days, when a boy or a girl wake up at night, what do they see their mother or father holding on to.
Be careful on how you conduct yourself, because it has a greater impact on molding the character of your children. Be careful about what you see on tv, about what music you listen to, about the comments you make about others, especially elders, about how respectful, loving and caring you are towards your spouse.
For the scripture says, "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.".
So my dear parents and grand-parents, it is your duty to recognize your children as a spiritual being, more than a mere biological being. It is your responsibility to grow your children in their spiritual life so that it leads to a successful personal life of their own in future, by leading an exemplary christian life yourself. "
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