On Parents and Children

This week Sydney, Australia will play host to the World Youth Day 08 that actually covers several days starting on July 15 until its culmination on July 20. Pope Benedict XVI will meet, bless and inspire the 225,000 delegates from Australia and from around the world. Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend the Final Mass at Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park. The German pontiff has followed the footsteps of his predecessor in appealing to the youth who shares equal responsibility in pursuing the mission of the pilgrim church.

The theme for the celebration is: 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.' (Acts 1:8). This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father, representing the birth of the Church.

While the Holy Father tells the youth of the sacrifices and the rewards that await the faithful workers of the Lord, it remains a challenge among many parents to keep their children along the Shepherd’s path. There is a tendency among parents to be overly concerned about what their sons or daughters are engaged in at any moment. It is not because parents distrust their children, rather they want to protect them from the hostile environment outside the home that the latter are exposed to. It is a difficult balancing act for parents to be firm on one side and accommodating at the other end.

Dependent on their parents in their childhood, the youth soon discover their talents and potentials and at the same time experience pressure from peers and of pop culture. When parents look over their shoulders, the youth, in some instances, take this as an affront to their independence and maturity. "Why can’t they just leave me alone for I know what I’m doing?" is the typical question that registers in the mind of the young.

Most parents anchor their relationship with their children on Proverbs 22:6: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." It is said: "The father (and mother as well) of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him." (Proverbs 23:24-25) On part of the youth, the Bible tells: "Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth." (Ecclesiastes 11:9) But they are admonished: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right." (Ephesians 6:1)

Parents cannot live the lives of their children, they can only guide them. Children should not be deaf to their parents’ words. As the young should be allowed to spread their wings to find their place under the sun and in His garden, they must do so heeding always the words of wisdom and love of their parents and elders.

As Pope Benedict XVI warms the hearts of the youth in Sydney, let us be one in our prayer for parents and their children to fill their homes with peace, love and hope that are meant to overflow to their community, to their nation and to the world.

by Mel Libre