Within a decade or so, a very special population
will cease to exist, and may never reappear again. This is the generation of older people who
weep and mourn over the fact that their children have rejected the Faith they
tried so hard to hand on them. They took
their children to Mass every week, they prayed with them daily, they took them
to Religious Ed, or put them in Catholic schools. They loved them, raised them right, and now
they see their adult children leaving the Church, not practicing the Faith, and
either not joining any church, or going to a church that teaches less hard
doctrine than what the Church, who is the fullness of Truth, does. They
go to a church that “makes them feel good”, and “speaks to them.” These older suffering souls say “I spoke to you;
I loved you, why have you rejected me?"
Then, getting no satisfactory answer, they weep and cry as they pray
their Daily Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet, and/or go to Daily Mass if they are
able, and pray desperately for the eternal salvation of their offspring.
We stated in a recent post that 12% of the entire US population regards him or herself as a “former
Catholic”. Obviously, some of that
population may no longer have one or more parents around. Let’s say only half of the original parents
of that 12% are still around. That would
mean 6% of the overall population is the suffering parents of those former
Catholics. That is still a very
significant chunk of the overall population!
I say this population will cease to exist because the next
round of older people will be people, who if they had children, will not be
mourning and weeping, at least for this. They will not
mourn and weep over this because they did not try to pass on the Faith, and/or the Faith
doesn’t mean much to them, and/or they stopped practicing the
Faith themselves.
If you are reading this, and you are one of those suffering
souls mentioned in the first paragraph above, know the Lord weeps with
you. Your tears, united with the
suffering Christ, will water the soil that will lead to fruit somewhere,
ideally for your children, but if not, somewhere else. Your suffering will not be in vain, I promise.
And furthermore, precious generation, do not blame
yourself. It is a tendency for people in
this predicament to be very hard on themselves.
They wonder over and over again what they could have differently that
would have led to their children not rejecting the Faith. Granted, there may be some valid reasons why
they feel as they do. Maybe they indeed could
have done some things better or differently.
But who of us can say we have often done anything perfectly? And here are a few more things to consider:
1)
Jesus Christ, the perfect man, could not win
everyone over. He could teach well, and
even perform miracles, but still, even he could not get everyone to believe
him. If he could not do it, we should
not expect ourselves to be able to.
2)
It is each person’s responsibility ultimately
to choose the Faith for themselves.
Nobody, even Saints, chose the Faith solely because of their parents
influence. When we stand before the
judgment seat, each of us will have to account for why we chose, or did not
choose, to accept and live the Faith.
We will not be able to blame our parents if we rejected the Faith. God gives each person to discern the truth
for him or herself. God gives everyone the gift of reason, and the gift of
Divine Revelation. This is a gift given
to each person independent of their upbringing.
A less than perfect upbringing in the Faith and other matters does not
diminish this gift. Each of us is called
to be stewards of the gifts we have been given, and we will be held accountable
for them.
3)
The Catholic Faith has stood the test of time,
and has been probed in its depth for over 2,000 years. The riches and depths of the Faith are inexhaustible. No one is capable enough of knowing it
all. It is great to have answers, but it
is unreasonable to expect one person or couple to have all the answers, all the
time. Yes, you should know where to
look if you do not, and yes, if you did not take any time to learn the Faith, and/or did not obtain the resources
available to answer questions you were not sure on, then yes, perhaps, you will
be held accountable for these things.
However, I am confident most of you took at least some time, and had a few resources on hand. This
should have been enough for your children.
4)
The Catholic Church teaches timeless
truths. It is not fashionable to live
and believe in Catholic faith and morals today.
The world emphasizes feelings, instant gratification, and a relaxation
of moral norms. So people will go to
places, churches or otherwise, that make them feel good, affirm them “as they
are”, instead of the One True Church that possesses and preaches the fullness
of Truth. These realities of the world are
very difficult ones to fight against.
The fact that you apparently “lost” to them is nothing you should beat
yourself up over. Jesus Christ,
remember, seemingly “lost” to the societal values of his day, too. He taught people the values of life, truth,
and love, yet it made them uncomfortable, and so, they went after him, and
eventually killed him. Yet, we know how
that turned out. The battle is never
over. There is always hope! Let that hope guide you, not your
disappointment.
You are a special generation, and the
world will suffer when you are no longer around. Please do not forget about us when you are in
heaven enjoying the rewards of your life on Earth, lived in fidelity to Christ
and His Church. We will need your
continued intercession if we stand a chance of getting into heaven ourselves.
For the rest of us, let us take a
moment and think of all these people, these poor souls praying their Rosaries
and Divine Mercy Chaplets, and other prayers, often in places like nursing
homes where they are forgotten by even their family members. As we go about our daily business, and attend
to our health, our finances, our career, seemingly everything except God, let
us remember these people who are, in my opinion, holding up the world. And let us ask ourselves, “Why does it hurt
them so much? Why is it causing them so
much pain? What am I rejecting by not
going to Church? Maybe I should take a minute and look again at this Faith that
my godly parents tried to pass on to me.”
Saint Joseph, solace of the wretched,
pray for us.
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