WORD ALIVE

A high school teacher was telling her class about statistics which indicate that more twins are being born these days than in the past.
 

“Why?” asked a teen-aged boy. “Because,” replied a  girl, “little children are afraid to come into the world alone.”

That is a very smart remark. With the threat to obstruct birth by means of abortion and artificial contraceptives, children fear coming out into the world alone. 
 

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From the beginning God intended that there be a place for parental love, care, and affection beginning with infancy when an individual is helpless, a place where he finds warmth and security, where he can make mistakes, where he can   grow, where he can be accepted. 

In short, God intended a family. 
 

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After Christmas day, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family — that of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Although Son of God, Jesus became a human child; he grew up in a family. For this, God loved and sanctified the human family. Thus, the saying, “Father And Mother I Love You (FAMILY).”
 

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The family, as the basic unit of society, ought to be the origin of change in society. 

If you cannot find the Christian values of honesty, justice, kindness, charity there, you cannot expect to find these outside. For the family is a miniature model of society. 
Despite their human frailties, parents should constantly strive to show good example. 

Due to economic hardship, families are vulnerable to family break-ups and infidelities with the husband, for instance, working abroad or the mother employed as domestic helper in other countries.

Among affluent families, parental presence and supervision are sorely lacking. So absorbed in business and socials, parents have little time for their children. Somebody remarked, “Many homes nowadays have three shifts. Father is on the night shift, mother is on the day shift, and the children shift for themselves.” 
 

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Ask yourselves: Are you aware that raising good Christian children is your primary task and vocation or, God’s plan for you?  Do you have quality time for your children and family bonding? 

In one family recollection I facilitated, a young participant said in the group sharing, “The happiest moment in our family is when we are together and happy.”

The deepest joy that parents experience is the delicate task of bringing up their children and seeing them walk the right path.
 

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The Lighter Side. After the Christmas holidays, a man tells his friend: “First my assets were frozen, then liquidated, and now they have evaporated.”
 

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Wife: “Our first years were wonderful — he promised me the moon, the sun, the stars. Now, every day, I see stars!” (The husband is a wife beater!)
 

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Somebody said: “Do you know the punishment for bigamy (two wives)?” Friend: “Yes. You will not only have two masters but two mothers-in-law!” (biyanan). And more expensive!
 

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Appeal. Some seminarians cannot continue their schooling due to financial difficulty.  This can happen if we do not support our seminarians.

Please chip in an amount or sponsor a seminarian’s schooling good for one school year. For inquiry, e-mail: [email protected]. Thank you.