The Christian family - cradle and bedrock of good citizens

The challenges to the family in today’s world are formidable, coming as it were from all around and from all over. The family, particularly the Christian family, is constantly being besieged by hostile forces and the realities of contemporary life. 

Christian parents, with the help of the Church and equipped with the practical and natural means to accomplish its mission of protecting life and nurturing their children, must rise to the challenge. The family must be equipped and empowered to animate and influence society. The Christian family must recognize that it is the cradle that will raise the next generation of leaders who will move society forward.

Familiaris Consortio, the 1981 Apostolic Exhortation authored by Pope John Paul II, strongly emphasized the four general tasks for the family:

(1) Forming a community of persons

(2) Serving life

(3) Participating in the development of society

(4) Sharing in the life and mission of the church

Forming a Community of Persons

The family is a transforming environment. Children become failures or successes in their adulthood depending on the kind of nurturing they received from within the family. The parents’ lifetime investment in love, care and dedication ensure the positive formative process of the children.

The first experience in life that has immeasurable impact among children is the unconditional and selfless love of the parents, who embody the principle of life itself and the natural law of God who is Love Himself. A happy and secure childhood bathed in parental and fraternal love, care and affirmation provide the strong foundation for the children’s future and the manner by which they exercise their particular vocations.

Serving life

Life is sacred and any violation of its sanctity and integrity offends our Creator. Ever since 1973 when abortion was legalized in America and became an accepted method of treating the lives of the unborn, no less than 53 million lives have been sacrificed. These 53 million estimated abortions far exceed the sum total of all the American military and civilian casualties of all the wars waged by that nation from its founding, even if you throw in all the victims of the Nazi holocaust, Bolshevik pogroms, and the genocides committed by the murderous dictators of modern times!

Inside their mothers’ wombs, the unborn babies are defenseless and utterly helpless. Given that the intrauterine period of gestation is nine months, that period should provide the best opportunities and great moments for the parents to show love and care for their unborn child. That would be more than enough proof of their faithfulness and obedience to God’s covenant for them as husband and wife. Parents share a great privilege and responsibility as co-creators of new life. Ensuring that the baby will be born and live to his fullest God-given potential is their highest joy and accomplishment.

Participating in the development of society

Pope John Paul II stressed in Familiaris Consortio — “Since the Creator of all things has established the conjugal partnership as the beginning and basis of human society, the family is the first and vital cell of society.”

Since the family is the building block of society, then it is incumbent for the laity to ensure that families would be instilled with that conviction as well as given the empowerment needed to animate, transform and influence society. A society that does not honor God will certainly manifest apathy and disregard for good moral and spiritual values. Its institutions will succumb to the lure of relativism and cynicism. It will be a society where nothing is sacred, where moral, spiritual and family values can be easily set aside and compromised with expediency.

Sharing in the life of the church

The first and most important part of society where the Christian faithful must exercise his vocation conferred by Baptism is in its basic unit — the FAMILY. First and foremost in the formation of Christians is for the parents to animate the lives of their children with the love of God, by presenting them to God and for God to be present in the families through the parents. In other words, if all of us are called to holiness, the very first place that it must be learned is within the intimacy of family life led by godly parents.

It is disheartening to note that God does not seem to be a vital participant in the life of today’s modern family. Filipino Christian families observe the time-honored rituals of religion ­— going to Mass or religious service on Sundays and observing liturgical feasts — but these are all superficial, designed only to render lip service to the trappings of religion. It is no wonder that when the children are faced with moral dilemmas, they are betrayed by their ignorance of what is supposed to be right and true. Thus we see all around us the fruits of godlessness — promiscuity, marital strife and separations, multiple partners, abortions, disregard for human rights, heinous crimes against persons.

The example of the perfect family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph ­— has been forgotten. If we are to progress as a nation, if we are to see the future generations succeed, if we are to experience a society that cares for others, we have to begin with the family, the first and vital cell of society, the cradle and bedrock of good citizens.