Sunday, November 12, 2006

"Be unselfish as a parent."

From The Catholic Family Handbook by Fr Lovasik.

I don't have this book but found this excerpt. I share this to encourage - myself and others. Being a mother is important work.

"The sublime and difficult task of child-rearing demands that you be willing to embrace self-sacrifice and self discipline. You must have an inexhaustible patience, deep faith and trust in God, devotion to duty, prayerfulness, and a right reverence for your children's human dignity. You must have a serenity that no reverses can disturb and that rests upon faithful devotion to doing God's holy will. You will not falter if your confidence in God does not falter. Such stability and unfaltering bravery is the ideal of every good mother and father.

You must be so deeply rooted in the changeless God that your children need only your example and wisdom to become exemplary Catholics.In order that you may fulfill your office worthily, endeavor to be what God intends you to be. You cannot impart character, virtue, and nobility if you do not have these qualities. You cannot teach respect for God, for religion, and for you if you are lacking in this respect. You cannot expect your children to be faithful to their duties toward you if you are unfaithful in your duties toward them.

If you want to be a good father or mother, make every effort to acquire the following qualities:

*Be deeply religious. Religion is not only to be believed, but to be lived. Without God and religion, you cannot hope to meet and solve the problems and difficulties of married life. If your children see that you love God and your neighbor and practice your religion conscientiously, they will be drawn to imitate your example.

*Be approachable. You will attract and enjoy the most intimate confidence of your children by a sympathetic interest in their work and recreation, their plans and problems.

*Be gentle, but firm in working for your children's welfare, regardless of their whims. Firmness does not mean severity. Strength and rule must be tempered with gentleness.

*Be loving and generous. Love your children sincerely, and be ready to make any sacrifice for them, especially in making home life pleasant.

As a Catholic parent, you enjoy, like priests, the greatest ministry in the world: the education of the conscience and the training of souls. Yours is the mission of fashioning the young hearts and minds of the children God has entrusted to you according to the divine Model, Christ. Try therefore, to realize the dignity of parenthood and its grave responsibility, and use the means offered by the Catholic Church to fulfill your duties faithfully."

Whew. A rather daunting list of qualities. But I can do this with God's help, right?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW thanks Leonie, a tall order indeed, but so good to hear.

Leonie said...

It is a tall order, isn't it? :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing this. I am going to post it near my desk as a reminder of MY responsibilities.

Anonymous said...

That IS an inspiring ideal! Thanks for sharing

Leonie said...

It is inspiring - and Christine, I, too, am thinking of printing it out and keeping it nearby. :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow...when it's all spelled out like that it's daunting - and sometimes in living it, too.

I was thinking this morning at Mass how each heart yearns to be better and wants to be challenged to do better.

This post does that for me. Thanks, Leonie!

Leonie said...

Yep - the post is a challnege - but also an encouragement for me to remember the priorities in mothering.

Anonymous said...

daunting indeed....the only place i'm ever truly serene is at holy mass - after receiving our lord in eucharist. do you suppose i should just go live at church with my crew???

Leonie said...

I'm sure the priests would love, Beate. :-)

I often feel peaceful ( for me, that is!) after a Sunday Mass.

Anonymous said...

Wow!

I have this little book.
Thank you for reminding me of it.

Leonie said...

Is it a good one, Cay? I know I like this snippet..

Anonymous said...

Very challenging stuff Leonie - also very humbling. What to do when we aim to be virtuous, go to Mass daily - 'do' all the right things (in terms of prayer, religious practice etc), yet life's challenges mean that we hit that wall and (for me anyway) fall in our example?

I find modelling the vitrues and behaviour I seek to encourage the children in, the biggest challenge in homeschooling. Not because I am a 'bad' person, but the unique challenges and intensity of relationships that are part of homeschooling, really put my personal reactions under the microscope.
Shannon

Leonie said...

I think nit is my biggest challenge, too - but then I think - maybe its okay to model the trying and how to apologize and start over....progression not perfection?

Anonymous said...

absolutely! Seeing parents keep on aspiring to the virtuous, inspite and despite struggles, is a better witness than aparent non struggling lukewarmness.

Shannon

Leonie said...

Shannon - you always write inspiring stuff. When are you gonna blog? :-)