The Gift of Life

Today is my birthday. I celebrate the receipt of the greatest gift ever given to me, the gift of life. As I sit before the Blessed Sacrament of Life, I am reminded of the parable of the talents. To each he gave talents, that they might not JUST be returned to him, but used wisely and returned with interest. Lord, help me to lead my life wisely, that I might be who you created me to be, and that one day I may return your wonderful gift with interest, and remain with you forever.

At Sunday mass a woman and her children sat in the pew in front of me. I couldn’t help but notice that the eldest child, perhaps 10 or 12, did not pray. Oh, he and the others were quiet and stood or knelt as appropriate, but at the Lord’s Prayer he was silent. When a prayer for priests was said at the end of the mass, he opened the book to the proper place and glance around as he held the words before him – upside down. I wanted to say to him “I’m sorry you have difficulty reading, I am willing to help tutor you,” or “Did you never learn the Our Father? I could teach it to you.” But this would have embarrassed the mother, and so I was politically correct and silent – but I wonder if I should have been.

Life is a great gift, ours and the ones given to our care. Being a parent is a vocation, a life’s work. Augustine wrote some great sermons for pastors, reminding them of their vocation, its great blessing AND its great challenge. Being given a responsibility for so many souls is a “heavy” burden, which cannot be treated “lightly.” God expects much of his pastors – and I think he expects much of his parents. Whether given 100 souls or one, pastors and parents have also received a great gift from God, one which is expected to be returned to him some day – with interest.

While I suspect that children today are not taught how to be good mommies and daddies as much as they once were, still once they grow up and are given the gift of a new life it is required that they learn how to treat it. If not knowing how to drive and given the gift of a car, would they just put it in the garage? Of course not! They’d learn to drive! And if they didn’t want to use the car properly, they’d be better off giving it away – so it is with the gift of a child. They need to raise it properly.

Despite perhaps not knowing how to raise a child, it can be learned, just like the Rules of the Road can. I think the primary way in which some parents fail in their vocation of properly teaching a child however, is in never giving any tests along the way. If someone crashes a car and damages it and himself, would you explain: “I don’t understand why it happened. I told him how to drive.” No, of course not, he needs to be told, shown, AND TESTED along the way before you let him drive solo. So why do some parent act surprised when their children are arrested, are abused (or abuse others), or never go to church. “But I taught them right”, they wail. But, I wonder, did they ever test them along the way?

The children I saw in front of me Sunday failed the test of even knowing how to pray, and much less the test of wanting to pray. They may have known that God was somehow present in the Church (they were told so), but they didn’t seem understand why that should matter to them. I, for one, would not be surprised if they fail the final exam of adulthood responsibility – and perhaps pass their failures on to their own children. As it relates to the parable of the talents, our life and our blessings are talents given to us; our Godly-raised children are the interest we return on those talents. Perhaps the mother’s words and her good example in church will be enough for the children to someday find God on their own – many do. But I think Augustine would have found fault with the mother for failing in her task, to return the gifts – with interest. No, from what I saw at the moment, those children had no interest.

In the home, in serious study and prayer, all children need to be taught the WHAT’S and WHY’S about God, and that their life is a great gift and living it well is serious business. And they need to be tested on what they are learning alone the way – by the parents. Being a parent is a vocation, a life’s work. It cannot be delegated to another, it is your responsibility – the use of your talents which you will someday have to return, and show to have earned interest.

Use them well, my friends. Use them well.

In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit. (Jn 15:8)

P.S. As I logged in to post these words, why did my internet provider note that “The word of the day is Methuselah – a very old man??"