I HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO OBEY MY COMMANDMENTS

 

I HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO OBEY MY COMMANDMENTS. Genesis 18:19.

“For I have chosen you, to teach your children and posterity to obey my teachings so that I may fulfill my promises to Abraham.”

1)-THE VOCATION OF FATHERHOOD IS UNIQUE IN CREATION.

Fatherhood is the most difficult vocation in God’s plan of salvation.  The reason is simple.  A man may choose to follow his animal instinct.  However, the same man may choose to follow his calling from God Himself.

2)-GOD HIMSELF CREATES ADAM AND EVE IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY.

After having achieved the creation of the universe, God settles down to create our very first parents.  They are a very special creation and so THREE  the whole  BLESSED TRINITY participates in such a creation.

May we read God in his own words in Genesis 1:26-27:

“Then God said, “Let  US  make mankind in our image, in our likeness,”

Now God is plural.  Let “US”  reveals to us that the BLESSED TRINITY is involved in this special creation of Adam and Eve.

Now God associates our first parents to himself in guiding the universe, improving it and make it a better place to live and to attain our destiny.  God gives us this universe for our dominion.

May we listen to God’s plan for men and women:

 “so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,  and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

3)-GOD HAS A PLAN FOR HIS CREATION TO BRING ALL THE ANGELS AND HUMANS UNDER JESUS.

The goal of creation is to build up THE BODY OF CHRIST to form the heavenly family of the elect.  And now Saint Paul reveals to us this mystery of His Will.

May we read Saint Paul in his own words: Ephesians 1:4-20:

“And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,   to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” 

4)-GOD HAS CHOSEN US TO BE HIS CONSECRATED PEOPLE.

Jesus is our model leading us to our predestination to fulfill God’s plan.  Obeying the Gospels leads us to our salvation.

May we meditate the words of Saint Paul:

“In him we were also chosen,  having been predestined ACCORDING TO THE PLAN  of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,   

in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.   And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”  

5)-GOD’S PLAN IS THE FAMILY OF ONE MAN COMMITTED TO ONE WOMAN and ONE WOMAN COMMITTED TO ONE MAN  TO BECOME PAPA Y MAMA.

God is fulfilling his plan to build up his family of saints in the eternal life.  To all those who choose to respect and live according to God’s plan, God will nurture them with his faithful promise. After all, God creates us to be eternally happy with Him in His eternal glory. 

May we read Saint Paul in his own words in Eph 1:13-14:

“Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance UNTIL THE REDEMPTION OF THOSE WHO ARE GOD'S POSSESSION--to the praise of his glory.”

6)-TO THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO LIVE THEIR LIFE ON EARTH OUTSIDE GOD’S PLAN, WE RESPECT THEIR CHOICE.

Salvation is a matter of choice.  Those who choose to separate themselves from God’s plan, it is their choice and we respect them.  Divine Revelation makes it very clear if we follow our inclinations to evil, we accept the consequences of throwing ourselves outside God’s plan cutting us away from our salvation.

May we read the disaster Saint Paul reveals on those following their inclinations to evil in Ephesians 2:1-3:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of satan, the spirit who is now at work in those who are DISOBEDIENT.   All of us also lived among them at one time, GRATIFYING THE CRAVINGS OF OUR SINFUL NATURE   and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

7)-TO THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO LIVE GOD’S FAMILY PLAN, TO BE A FATHER IS TO BE THE GARDIAN OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD.

Thus God himself promotes his matrimony commandment .  May we read God in his own words in Genesis 2:24:

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one person.”

God has given to fathers the unique power to transmit the human life from Adam and Eve to the last man to be born.  The role of the father in his household is unique in creation.  Not only has God given him to transmit the human life, but he has given him the power to rule over his children.

May we read God’s will in shaping up the family life in Genesis 18:17-

“Should I hide my plan from Abraham?” the Lord asked.

 “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.  I have singled him out so that he will teach  his sons and their families to obey my teachings.”

8)-THE DIVINE MANDATE TO EDUCATE CHILDREN IN THE TEACHINGS OF GOD.

The father is first and foremost the natural educator of his children.  The father’s role as educator and head of the family is engrained in the children.  Children are naturally inclined to obey and to respect their father as commander in chief of the family.   

9)-MOTHERS ARE TO RESPECT THE FATHER’S ROLE IN THE FAMILY.

Mothers must promote the father’s role as the educator of his children. They must back-up his authority.  However, husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the Church and died crucified for her.  Who is the husband ready to die for his spouse like Jesus died for His Church? Who is the husband who treats his wife with the same care as treats his own body? 

May we read Saint Paul in Eph 5:25-26:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her   to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,”

10)-FATHERS ARE RESPONSIBLE TO PROVIDE THEIR CHILDREN WITH THEIR FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

Fathers are the care-giver, the bread-winning of their children.

Morally, parents must exercise authority over their children. Particularly at younger ages, children cannot fend for themselves and need constant supervision to keep them from starving to death or becoming sick or injured.

However, fathers are the first educators of their children. They must teach their children first of all the basic knowledge of evangelization.

 Saint Paul tells the fathers their obligation to train their children in the knowledge of the Lord.

May we read saint Paul in Ephesians 6:4:

“Fathers,  do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

11)-CHILDREN HAVE A SACRED DUTY TO OBEY THEIR PARENTS.

Saint Paul reveals the attitude children should nurture for their parents.

May we read in Ephesians 6:1-3:

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—  “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

12)-GOD PROMISES A DOUBLE REWARD TO CHILDREN WHO HONOR THEIR PARENTS .

The fourth commandment is very special in the Decalogue.  Obeying the 10 commandments is rewarded in heaven.  However, God has a very special affinity for the 4^th commandment.  Not only he rewards in heaven children who honor their parents, but he rewards such children immediately on earth.  Thus, it is the only commandment with 2 rewards.  God rewards such children, who honor their parents, with a long life on earth.

As Saint Paul says, to honor your parents pays off with a long life of happiness on earth and then the second reward in heaven.

13)-THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN IS TOTALLY BASED ON EDUCATION.

John Paul II clarifies the unique responsibility of the fathers and mothers.  Christ is our unique teachers; we must take it from Him how to transmit his teachings to our children.

May we read the Holy Father in Catechesi Tradendae where he deplores the total absence of the parents in teaching Jesus to their children:

“On another level, parents have a unique responsibility in the evangelization of their children. …  But in catechetical practice, this model order must allow for the fact that the initial evangelization has often not taken place. A certain number of children baptized in infancy come for catechesis in the parish without receiving any other initiation into the faith and still without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ;

14)-PARENTS ARE IRREPLACABLE IN FORMING THE CONCIENCE OF THEIR CHILDREN.

In DOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM #43, John Paul II clarifies the role of conscience in each human person.

May we read the Pope in his own words:

“on conscience when it spoke about man's vocation and in particular about the dignity of the human person. It is precisely the conscience in particular which determines this dignity of the human person.”

Conscience is the guiding factor in all human acts.  Thus, parents must intervene to help their children educate their conscience at their very basic age.

15)-JESUS USES HARSH WORDS TO THOSE WHO BETRAY A CHILD.

The initial evangelization is paramount in the formation of the conscience in the child. The conscience of a child is the most precious gift parents pass on to their children. 

May we read Jesus in his own words in Matthew 18:6-8:

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

 Wherefore if your  hand or your  foot offend you, cut them off, and cast them from you: it is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.”

16)-FATHERS MUST NOT ABUSE THEIR AUTHORITY.

Saint Paul gives us the last key words in the education of children.  All teachings and education must be done with compassion and love. Especially when educators deal with children.

May we read Saint Paul in Eph 6:4: 

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Fathers love your children and raise them up to the Lord with compassion and love for they must be your crown of glory in heaven.

May Jesus bless fathers to fulfill their fatherhood in fear and love of the Lord under the guidance of the Holy Spirit so their children be their crown of glory in heaven.  The professor.