THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE SHAPES THE WORLD

 

 

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE SHAPES THE WORLD. 

“…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;…”   Cathechesi Tradendae #19

 

1)-SOME PROFOUNDLY CHARITABLE BISHOPS MADE ME A CASE IN POINT.

Some bishops asked me why I was so concerned with the majority of men and women going to hell. 

2)-JESUS HIMSELF REVEALS THAT THE MAJORITY OF MEN AND WOMEN WILL BE DAMNED.

The words of faith from Jesus himself should never be taken lightly.  The heresy of RELATIVISM holds our bishops and priests in its inescapable snares.  Jesus squarely makes the difference between MANY and FEW.  While MANY chooses to go to hell, only a FEW   chooses to go to heaven.  And this truth concerning salvation and damnation is DIVINELY REVEALED.

May we read Jesus in his own words in Matthew 7:13-14:

“Enter through the NARROW GATE.  For WIDE IS THE GATE and broad  is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.   But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a  FEW   find it.”

3)-JESUS REVEALS TO US THAT OUR SALVATION OR OUR DAMNATION IS A MATTER OF CHOICE.

Salvation or damnation is STRICTLY a matter of choice. It is divinely revealed that each one chooses to go to heaven.  It is divinely revealed also that each one chooses  to go hell. God does not force heaven on us, neither does He force hell on us.   Certainly there is a reason WHY only a FEW find the NARROW GATE.  Also there is a reason WHY MANY enter through THE WIDE GATE leading to destruction.

4)-IT IS IMPOSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO CHOOSE HELL!

Hell with all its sufferings and torments has NO attractiveness!  Therefore, it is quite correct to say NOBODY CHOOSES HELL.  

5)-THE MAJORITY OF MEN AND WOMEN CHOOSE HELL.

Jesus, in Matthew 7:13-14,  in very clear terms reveals to us this almost unbelievable truth that the majority of us will be damned.  Pope Benedict xvi in his famous book, GOD IS NEAR US, clarifies such a choice.  When someone chooses to live in adultery, such a person chooses hell. It is that simple! 

May we read Saint Paul in 1 Cor 6:9-10:

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:  Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Our upbringing at home is an important factor in making choices later on in life.

6)-GOD MANDATES TO 2 GROUPS TO FORM THE CHILD INTO THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD.

The first group are the parents.  The parents are the God-given natural educators of their children. The child is born with an innate sense to follow his parents.  They are his guardians and protectors.  Parents are responsible to guide the child in his(her) formative years. 

7)-GOD-ORIENTED PARENTS ARE GOD’S GREATEST BLESSINGS ON SONS AND DAUGHTERS.

God-oriented parents shape the homes where saints are born. In the lives of the saints, we find numerous testimonies attesting to this fact.  In her autobiography, saint Teresa narrates her growing in a God-given oriented home which gave three Carmelites sisters to the Church.  To learn to pray on mothers’ knees prepares a soul to conquer vicious environment.    

8)-JOHN PAUL II TEACHES WHY SO MANY CHILDREN FAIL IN LIFE.

In his Apostolic Exhortation,  CATECHESI TRADENDAE (meaning CATECHISM IN OUR TIME), the Pope affirms failures in the home of the basic Christian orientation training are the cause of so many children going astray. 

May we read the Pope in his own words in CT #19:

“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…””

9)-THE “INITIAL EVANGELIZATION” PAVES THE WAY TO SAINTHOOD.

In life-experience, numerous are the saints who owe their sainthood to a mother who taught them to pray.  I have personally met with mothers who raised their children on their knees with the family prayer.  Such mothers believe they are the light giving the orientation to their child.  

Pope John Paul II affirms in the Christian home, “the child begins building up his personal attachment to Jesus.”

10)-THE LACK OF “INITIAL EVANGELIZATION” PAVES THE WAY TO DISASTER.

When the mother fails in her irreplaceable role of guiding her child to heaven, the child fails in life.  And thus the grace of baptism fails in such a child.

May we hear the Pope in #19:

“such children …are left without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ;”

11)-CHILDREN ABANDONED BY THEIR PARENTS FALL PREY TO ENEMIES.

The Pope helps us to understand how abandoned children become quickly the prey of their enemies.  They have received absolutely no knowledge of their baptism.  Unfaithful mothers vowed their children on the path to damnation.

May we read the Pope in #19:

“To such abandoned children by their mothers, … opposition is quickly created by the prejudices of their non-Christian family background or of the positivist spirit of their education.”

12)-WOULD IT BE BETTER FOR SUCH MOTHERS TO RENOUNCE MOTHERHOOD?

It does not seem reasonable for a mother to bring a new life in the world just to send that life to hell.  May we ask mothers to make this case in point. 

13)-THE MAIN GOAL OF A MOTHER IS TO SURROUND HERSELF WITH HER CHILDREN IN HEAVEN.

Life has no purpose in this world.  Our aspiration to the infinite obliges us to find the real purpose of life. A mother is responsible to bring a new life in the world.  Her responsibility includes orienting this new life as a pilgrim of eternity.  For such a task, God is giving mothers to succeed a divine help of his own called the Church.

14)-GOD MANDATES TO BISHOPS AND PRIESTS A SPECIAL TASK IN EDUCATING CHILDREN IN THE FAITH.

By a special mandate from God, bishops and priests must come to help parents in the arduous task of teaching catechism.  Bishops and priests continue to fail as sent by God to evangelize their flock.  They strongly reject teaching catechism as their first sacred duty surging from their ordination.  They believe teaching catechism to children belongs to grandmothers and girls!!!! 

May we read the Pope’s own words in #63:

“To begin with, I turn to my brother Bishops:

Dearly beloved brothers, you have here a special mission within your Churches: You are beyond all others the ones primarily responsible for catechesis, the catechists par excellence. Together with the Pope, in the spirit of episcopal collegiality, you too have charge of catechesis throughout the Church.   Accept therefore what I say to you from my heart.

I know that your ministry as Bishops is growing daily more complex and overwhelming. A thousand duties call you: from the training of new priests to being actively present within the lay communities, from the living, worthy celebration of the sacraments and acts of worship to concern for human advancement and the defense of human rights. But let the concern to foster active and effective catechesis yield to no other care whatever in any way. This concern will lead you to transmit personally to your faithful the doctrine of life.”

15)-THE POPE CALLS ON PRIESTS TO FULFILL THEIR FIRST AND PRIMARY TASK SURGING FROM THEIR ORDINATION.

Seminaries lamentably fail to form priests catechists.  All the Popes beg priests and bishops to teach catechism.  They lamentably failed to move seminaries, bishops and priests into teaching catechism.

May we read the Pope in #64:

For your part, priests, here you have a field in which you are the immediate assistants of your Bishops. The Council has called you "instructors in the faith"; there is no better way for you to be such instructors than by devoting your best efforts to the growth of your communities in the faith. Whether you are in charge of a parish, or are chaplains to primary or secondary schools or universities, or have responsibility for pastoral activity at any level, or are leaders of large or small communities, especially youth groups, the Church expects you to neglect nothing with a view to a well-organized and well-oriented catechetical effort.   The deacons and other ministers that you may have the good fortune to have with you are your natural assistants in this. All believers have a right to catechesis; all pastors have the duty to provide it.

 

16)-THE POPE SEES THE GREAT NECESITY TO CATECHIZE WHICH IS NOT BEING MET.

May we read the Pope in #19:

In addition, there are other children who have not been baptized and whose parents agree only at a later date to religious education: for practical reasons, the catechumenal stage of these children will often be carried out largely in the course of the ordinary catechesis. Again, many pre-adolescents and adolescents who have been baptized and been given a systematic catechesis and the sacraments still remain hesitant for a long time about committing their whole lives to Jesus Christ - if, moreover, they do not attempt to avoid religious education in the name of their freedom. Finally, even adults are not safe from temptations to doubt or to abandon their faith, especially as a result of their unbelieving surroundings. This means that "catechesis" must often concern itself not only with nourishing and teaching the faith, but also with arousing it unceasingly with the help of grace, with opening the heart, with converting, and with preparing total adherence to Jesus Christ on the part of those who are still on the threshold of faith. This concern will in part decide the tone, the language and the method of catechesis.

17)-THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE DEFINITLY NEEDS HELP TO SHAPE THE WORLD.

To set up a child on the path to salvation, mothers greatly need help from bishops and priests.  Such help is not coming.  Mothers are left alone very often with husbands not interested.  However, the saddest situation comes to children abandoned by their mothers.

18)-THE MOTHER WHO DETESTS PRAYING WITH HER CHILDREN GUIDES THEM TO A FINAL DISASTER.

 May we ask Jesus, in our daily prayers, to give us mothers who will pray with their children.  Prayers are a great force in our Christian orientation.

We pray you, Jesus, to give us mothers who will, in their daily Christian upbringing,  guide their children to salvation.                 The professor.