Empowering the family

YES, we need to empower the family, especially the
parents, so it can fulfill all its duties and responsibilities,
especially the most basic ones that are related, more than anything
else, to the spiritual life of all members in the family.

            The family is not just some collection of parents and
children whose main concern is meeting the material or emotional needs
of all its members, or some generic human needs.

            The family is a human family, not just an animal family,
and as such it has a nature that corresponds to the dignity of our
human nature, that gives primary importance to the spiritual dimension
which essentially distinguishes us from the other animals. Thus, our
Catechism defines it as:

            “A man and a woman united in marriage form a family
together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it
with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered
to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of
children.

            “Members of the same family establish among themselves
personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the
family becomes the domestic church because it is a community of faith,
of hope, and of charity.” (Compendium 456)

            We have to make everyone more aware of this distinguishing
character of the family. It’s its spiritual dimension that defines and
separates the human family from other forms of family in the natural
world.

            Because of that, the family cannot but be “a community of
faith, hope, and charity” which is what it ultimately is and what
would properly nourish and develop it. It’s not just some objects of
the natural world, no matter how brilliant or practical these objects
are, since these do not give us the original basis of what is to be
human.

            At best, these natural objects of our spiritual faculties
of intelligence and will are mere manifestations of our humanity, and
also the means and occasions to affirm the real source and basis of
our humanity, which is God, our Creator, in whose image and likeness
we have been created.

            We need to make this fundamental truth about ourselves
more known and appreciated, so we can correspond and act on it with
greater consistency. We have to get to a level higher than the status
quo insofar as our understanding of the family is concerned.

            Especially these days when we all are practically faced
with delicate and complicated issues, when a lot of ideologies are
sowing error and confusion, mixing true and valid points with false
and distorted values, we need to equip the family properly because it
serves as the primary defense of any individual, even before schools,
churches and other institutions can help.

            This, of course, is not going to be an easy job. We are
aware of the many inadequacies that families now have as well as the
increasing dangerous influences and conditionings that they are
exposed to. But that’s the challenge we just have to face and learn to
resolve.

            Obviously parents, especially the young ones and those
whose formation may not have been good, need a lot of help. Catechesis
for them is necessary, but a lot more are needed. It’s good that there
are groups organized by the churches and some private institutions
that try to meet this need, but more groups are needed.

            Parents should be encouraged to teach catechism to their
children in ways that would come out natural. They have to learn how
to discern the spiritual development of their children, like how their
children are thinking, desiring, working, or how they are acquiring
virtues, developing concern for others, handling difficulties,  or
appreciating the need for prayers, sacrifice, sacraments, etc.

            Yes, it’s true that parents should respect the freedom of
their children, but this should not be taken to mean indifference to
the requirements of the proper development of their children. If
there’s true love for the children, parents should get actively
involved in the most intricate but also crucial aspect of their
children’s lives.

            There actually are endless things to look into, and
everyone simply has to understand that these come with the territory
insofar is parenthood is concerned. They are not optional. They are
necessary duties for which the parents have to be properly trained and
equipped.

            To repeat, marriage, family and parenthood are not simply
oriented to our material and temporal concerns. They are intrinsically
linked to our spiritual nature and dignity. We have to correspond as
fully and as faithfully to this fundamental truth about ourselves.
This is very serious business!