Families: Be Holy!

This is an important reminder to parents especially if their child may be called to a religious vocation.  God entrusts parents with the lives of their children to help them become the people He made them to be - to give them proper direction in the journey to heaven.  God has prepared a path for this child to come back to Him and is asking the parents to assist the child in discovering that path.  It is so important, therefore, for the parents to encourage the possibility of a religious vocation for their children. We will be the happiest in the vocation to which God has called us.  Parents, and future parents, you will aid your child in finding happiness and, most importantly, aiding them in their journey to heaven, if you support them if they think they may be called to religious life.  Sadly, many parents discourage their children if the possibility of a religious vocation is brought up, but if there is support rather than hostility, then the reception of the vocation to which the child is called will allow, not only the child, but the whole family to flourish in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Family life is so incredibly important - families are the basic unit of society and if the family falls apart the society itself will fall apart.  If, however, families are seeking holiness then they have the ability to transform the culture from a culture of death to a culture of life and civilization of love. The family is what it all hinges upon so to speak.  The family is where the child first learns how to love.  This has dramatic consequences whether for good or for ill.  The Church speaks of the family as the 'ecclesia domestica' or 'domestic church'.  Bl. JPII recognized the importance of the family so much that he dedicated the whole year of 1994 as the 'Year of the Family' because he saw a need for a renewal in family life and he also wrote one of his thickest encyclicals 'Familiaris Consortio' on this topic.  Families, be holy!  Bl. John Paul the Great, intercede for us that our families may seek the holiness for which they are made.