Parents

“Christian mothers and fathers are a great spiritual motor, sending the strength of God to your own ones, strength for that struggle, strength to win, strength to be saints. Don't let them down!” (Saint Josemaria “The Forge”, 692).

Christmas Night (The Blessing of the Oxen) (Paul Gaughin)

Is it not the most fascinating thing to reflect on God as our Father?

Before the time of Christ, the Jewish people did not really understand how God could really be a father, a dad, a daddy.  But when Christ prayed to His Father in Heaven, He called Him Abba, which means Daddy.  It was a close term and one that showed a depth of love and intimacy that would take an eternity to understand.

And I have been reflecting on this idea for the last few days.  You see, God Himself models parenting for us.

Since I was a little girl, I have heard the expression that parenting is the most difficult job in the world.  No, I do not really agree with that.  It is – I agree – a thankless job, where children expect their parents to provide for them and do little to acknowledge or validate that sacrifice.  But there are probably jobs out there that are more technically difficult than the job of parenting…

After all, a brain surgeon or heart surgeon or even a physicist or a rocket scientist is surely a person with a job that is ore technically difficult than that of a parent. 

And yet parenting is very difficult as well.  After all, there are no real rules books and you cannot apply the theory easily to real life scenarios, where both the parent and the children are learning how to navigate new scenarios together.  And the stakes are high – eternal salvation is the end-result of a child-well raised and eternal damnation is the result for a child who is not raised well by their parents.

Saint Josemaria wrote in “The Forge” at 692, “In conversations I have had with so many married couples, I tell them often that while both they and their children are alive, they should help them to be saints, while being well aware that none of us will be a saint on earth. All we will do is struggle, struggle, struggle. And I also tell them: you Christian mothers and fathers are a great spiritual motor, sending the strength of God to your own ones, strength for that struggle, strength to win, strength to be saints. Don't let them down!”

And I have been thinking about that today, because it seems to me that there is an immense responsibility on parents to raise Saints…  And when one looks at the lives of the Saints and considers their families, very often people will see whole families of Saints congregating together.  Parents who were saintly raising saintly children who in turn influence others to become saintlier.

And it occurs to me that the Lord my God so loves me that He decided to set an example of parenthood for me.  And He does that through the Love that He has for His Only Begotten Son.

And what an example that is upon which to meditate…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.