“Hi Danny, actually I am not suppose to open my facebook, Therese and I made a pledge that I will abstain from facebook for the holyweek and she will not watch tv" : )
This was the actual intro of a friend’s e-mail to me recently about him and his daughter keeping the Lenten observance. I find it wonderful that father and daughter are brought together in a common act of faith.
Another friend, a mom, announces her daughter’s upcoming 1st Holy Communion in FB and the experiences (and excitement, too!) in preparing for the event. As prerequisite, the candidate for Holy Communion has to go through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or commonly known as confession. I find it amusing that her daughter had to ask about what she confessed about. We as adults may be wise enough not to disclose; be too embarrassed to admit or perhaps totally forgotten the experience of our own 1st confession. But in the candid innocence of children, vulnerable as they are, we are somewhat faced with the reality of our own vulnerability as adults.
As my friends and their families had migrated to the U.S. to seek the proverbial greener pasture, I observed that they have not lost the Filipino part of them. Keeping their link to the Catholic Church is a way of upholding their Filipino identity readily perpetuated to their children. It is ironic that Filipinos become more fervent in their faith when they go to lands where Catholics are a minority.
I learned that the Catholic Church in the U.S. encourages parents to be involved in their children’s spiritual formation. I find it strange that here in the Philippines (where Catholicism is the denominational majority) children are sent to church unaccompanied by parents or are left in the care of parish volunteers engaged in the children’s ministry. Here candidates for 1st Holy Communion attends Cathecism classes alone unlike in California where my friends had to attend with their children. And because of this, they were able to recapture the familiar experience of faith.
I commend my friends for bringing-up their children to the church as their parents before them. I am proud of them for looking-out for their children’s spiritual welfare. It is afterall very parent’s duty to raise their children believing in an Almighty God. In the Gospel, “little children were brought to Jesus so that he should put his hands on them, and pray. But the disciples scold them. But Jesus said to them, ‘Let not the little children suffer and forbid them not to come to me for such is the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and blessed them.” Matthew 19:14-15
Moreover, religious exercises give the opportunity to every parent to get in touch with their own spirituality courtesy of the innocent interest of their children. To satisfy each child’s curiosity, parents become more attentive to what they otherwise had not given much thought about because life is too busy to ponder on.
I admit, despite my being a “practicing” Catholic, I am far from being the perfect model of Christianity. While I veered more towards religion, I claim not to be an authority on spirituality. But just like any adult, my time are most likely to be spend on things of consequence such as making a living, keeping relations and engaged in intellectual pursuits. Our adult sophistication and cunning as a result of acquired education and tested experiences had somehow altered the way we see religion and matters of faith.
It is truly timeless novelty to witness the milestones in the life of every child particularly those that initiates them to the folds of the faith. More than just a rite of passage for them, it becomes a source of renewal for their parents. Through the innocence of children we can indeed learn so much as adults. I can say at this point that our children are God’s little angels send to us adults to once again be like them. Hence, “When the disciples came to Jesus and asked him,’Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Then Jesus called a little child in the midst of them and said, ‘I assure you that unless you change and become little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives a child in my name receives me.” Matthew 18:1-5
May you all have an inspiring and blessed Holy Week.
