December 23 (Lk. 1,57-66): What Will This Child Be?

I consider my family my greatest treasure. I am how I am today largely because of my family. I am the Fr. Tom standing before you today because of my family.

When a child is born, people get to ask: “What will this child be?” Will he be a doctor, or a lawyer, or an engineer, or an executive, or a manager, or a priest? Will she be a nurse, or a teacher, or a midwife, or a religious? Will he be respectful and obedient, intelligent and talented? Or will he be a drunkard like his father, or a gambler like his uncle? Will she be a gossiper like her mother, or unfaithful like her aunt?

When you and I were born, this question might have also been asked. Many things might have run across the minds of our parents and relatives, many dreams woven into their minds. As we grew up, we may have achieved some of these, or we may have missed whatever was dreamed for us. There is one basic dream for every child: that he grow up in grace and wisdom, just like Jesus under the loving care of Joseph and Mary.

But how are our children raised these days? They are left under the care of the nanny, who leaves them in front of the television unsupervised. A few years back, a TV channel carried the news about a four year old boy who always watched TV – guns, killings, violence. One day, after watching on TV a man killing somebody with a gun, he went to his parent’s room, took his father’s gun, went to his yaya, pointed the gun at her, and, puuuh, the yaya lay lifeless on the floor.

Several years ago, computers were only accessible, aside from office workers, to college students. Now, almost everybody, including pre-schoolers, can take advantage of the wonders of the computer, where everything is just a click away. In this age of information technology, one can hardly keep in step with the world without a computer. Use the computer, we must. But who knows what other sites our children are visiting? Consider the stream of negative influences the internet may have on a person.

“What will this child be?” Such a question of great importance! A question that must be asked by both parents and children.

All of us are children, reared by our parents. Perhaps, we children should look at ourselves and ask: How am I? What am I doing with my life? What are my dreams? What are the things that matter to me? What are my priorities? What are the things I believe in? Where is the family in my world, in my consciousness? Is my family my greatest treasure? How is my relationship with my parents, my brothers and sisters? Am I open to them? Do I care about how they feel? All parents wish the best for their children. This is why parents work so hard to be able to send their children to the best schools and assure them of a brighter future. Do I value the way my parents care for me? Do I think my parents, my family, are happy with how I am now? We forget that it is in the family that we learn the basics of life. It is in the family that we feel most secure, energized and revitalized. It is within the family that we find real peace and sense of belonging. Regrettably, many of us take our families for granted until it’s too late. Scripture says, “Jesus went down with Joseph and Mary and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them . . . and increased in wisdom.”

Parents, do you honestly think you had been and continue to be the best parents that you can be to your children? Do you make an effort to bring yourselves close to your children and understand them? Do you care about how they feel and what they think? Are you aware about the difficulties they go through, their problems, their confusions? Our children may be okay and silent in the outside, but exploding and screaming in the inside. Are you happy to see what your children have become? Do you think your children are happy that they have you as their parents? Parents should realize that every child wants to belong to a good, holy, peaceful and respectable family. Parents need to be keenly aware with everything that happens inside the family and listen to what God may be saying. They must imitate Mary who treasured everything in her heart. There were many tragic events that happened to her family, things that were hard to understand, but she meditated on them in the light of God’s word. Parents must remain aware that they are the primary educators of their children. Not the television, not the laptop or the internet or any other medium of communication, not the barkada. They must be vigilant and protective of their children so that they may become like Jesus, who grew to be an obedient child to Joseph and Mary, or like John, who must have been docile to Zechariah and Elizabeth.

“What will this child be?” This question is important to God, too. Every one of us has been created in His image and likeness. He has great plans for us. But we frustrate his plans because we just do what we want to do although what we want may be contrary to his will. As God’s children, we must follow the example of Jesus who said, “I must be in my Father’s house. I must be about his things. I must follow what he wants.” No father or mother desires the ruin of his or her children, but that they become as God intended them to be that they may be happy in this life. Do we think God is happy with how we are spending our time on earth?

I love my family. If I were given a second shot at life, I would happily choose to be born again into the family built by my father and mother with love and care. Our life as a family may be ordinary and simple, but there is genuine loving and caring. Having my family as I know it, I can say, “It’s great to be alive.”

Can you say that, too?

(Some points were shared by a friend, Sherween Saquing.)