Sunday, April 7, 2013
460. What are the duties of parents toward their children? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 460 repetition) Parents, in virtue of their participation in the fatherhood of God, have
the first responsibility for the education of their children and they are the
first heralds of the faith for them. They have the duty to love and respect
their children as persons and as children of God and to provide, as far as is
possible, for their physical and spiritual needs. They should select for them a
suitable school and help them with prudent counsel in the choice of their
profession and their state of life. In particular they have the mission of
educating their children in the Christian faith.
“In brief”
(CCC 2252) Parents have the first
responsibility for the education of their children in the faith, prayer, and
all the virtues. They have the duty to provide as far as possible for the
physical and spiritual needs of their children.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2224) The home is the natural environment for
initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents
should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which
threaten human societies. (CCC 2225) Through the grace of the sacrament of
marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should
initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of
which they are the "first heralds" for their children. They should
associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church (LG 11 §
2). A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine
preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one's
life.
Reflection
(CCC 2226) Education
in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years.
This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by
the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis
precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith.
Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover
their vocation as children of God (Cf. LG 11). The parish is the Eucharistic
community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a
privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents. (CCC 2227)
Children in turn contribute to the growth
in holiness of their parents (Cf. GS 48 § 4). Each and everyone should be
generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels,
injustices, and neglect. Mutual affection suggests this. The charity of Christ
demands it (Cf. Mt 18:21-22; Lk 17:4). [IT CONTINUES]
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