What will this child be?

“What, then, will this child be?” (Lk 1:66)

The basic concern of every parent. What, then, will this child be? Specially if our child is delicate and sensitive and needs a little bit more attention then other children.

Have you got any idea how stressful it could be for parents to know something about God’s plan for him or for her? Think about Elisabeth and Zachariah: “even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.“ (Lk 1, 15-17); or about Mary and Joseph. This is your son and the Son of God, “he will save his people from their sin” (Mt 1, 21). Take care of Him. Prepare Him for the future. Prepare your son to His role.

What they did as parents? They did nothing special. Jesus spent thirty years in normal family life. No special schools for very talented children future Redeemer of the world! “He went down with them then and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority… And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people.. (Lk 2, 51-52). Maybe this is a good advertisement for home schooling. 😉

How often do we think about profession, some important role. Can we prepare our child to be e.g. president of the country? What we think is important for the future of our children we will give them. The majority will think about education. As good as possible. The best kindergarten, the best primary school, high school, college, university. The better education we’ll give the better career they will have.

Others will think about giving them a good start in life through covering all the basic needs, like apartment with good equipment, car, some savings for nice vacations or other needs. And so…

Do we remember that our child is not ours. She or he is a miracle, a gift from God. Our child IF IT BELONGS to anybody, belongs only to God. Remembering about this is the most important “education” and “good start” for our child.

And even if our child becomes a president of our country or Apple or Google CEO, at the same time probably he or she will be a husband or wife.

So, what we really can do for the best future for our children is to help them understand and believe that he/she is a miracle, a wonderful gift from God, always loved and always worthy.

The other thing we can do is to show them how to protect our love in the family, how to respect a woman, how to take care of our relationship.

With prayer for you

Fr. Jay