Of parents, vows and family values – Jul 18

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December 18, 2014

Of parents, vows and family values – Jul 18


Of parents, vows and family values – Jul 18 PDF Print E-mail
By Vernon Khelawan

Parish priests are being asked to become more proactive in moving the process of the New Evangelisation along.

The call comes from the Evangelisation Commission of the New Evangelisation Department as it pushes to take the movement to another level in terms of building greater awareness of evangelisation among the people of God.

This weekend the Commission is distributing, with the assistance of the Catholic News, its second prayer pamphlet in its awareness exercise. The first one was distributed during the feast of the Holy Family last December.

In this new pamphlet, the Commission has successfully managed to create linkages between the theme ‘Catholic Family: Become What You Are’ and the serious responsibility of parenting as reflected in the lives of Sts Anne and Joachim, parents of out Blessed Mother.

So in the same way that Anne and Joachim took care of their family in a way that was pleasing to God, which in itself was a manifestation of evangelisation in those early days, so too the Commission is calling on parents to be as great leaders as Sts Anne and Joachim and follow their example, ensuring that they prepare a family to become what it is, planting the seed of the new evangelisation.

Last week we spoke about the importance of parents understanding and accepting the responsibility laid on them by their parenting duties. As a matter of fact, the family in the home was described as fertile ground in which new evangelisation can take root.

The Evangelisation Commission has moved the exercise to a new dimension by exhorting husbands and wives to revisit the vows they made to each other on the day of their marriage.

And while there has not been an appeal as such to parents, in terms of this year’s theme, the mere fact that they would become more involved in the total lives of their families, would redound to a greater realisation of the importance of evangelisation.

Just looking at the Commission’s new pamphlet, one can almost feel the linkages. There are prayers for the husband, the wife and one for the spouses praying for each other. But just as important is the introduction of the parents’ prayer for their children and a prayer for the entire family.

Last Updated on Saturday, 24 July 2010 12:16