By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
The Archdiocese’s pastoral priority this year is: The New Evangelization. The sub-theme is: Catholic family, become what you are. This theme reflects Pope John Paul II’s plea (in his encyclical, The Christian Family in the Modern World) for families to “become what you are, the domestic Church and the heart of the world.”
He reminds us that, “the future of humanity passes by way of the family.” He refers to the Christian family as “a society in its own original right”, and the “first and vital cell of society.”
If we are to “become” what we are, we have to do as Fr Joe Harris says, and move from veneration to imitation – imitation of Christ. To “become” what we are, we must walk in the footsteps of Christ; we must “live” Christ.
We are called to live our lives as Catholics in community because Jesus has made us all “family”. The challenge for us is to move from a vertical relationship with God to a horizontal relationship with Him as we see Him in our family members and in the community at large.
Gandhi said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” To conform to the image of Christ we must “put on Christ”. (See Romans 13, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 3:27.)
If we are to strengthen family life, we must pray for God’s grace to live our lives according to the tenets of our faith.
Our lives should be so Christ-centred that we should be able to say as Paul said: “For me to live, is Christ.”
If we imitate Christ we can be agents of change; we can build God’s Kingdom in our families, in our workplaces, in our communities, in our country and in the world. There is no better way to evangelise than by example; by becoming living witnesses of the Gospel; by allowing our lives to be infused with Gospel values.
There is an urgent need to strive to safeguard/build family life. Family life is under constant attack today from various social ills. Recently I met a 22 year-old man in a take-away restaurant. He was limping and his foot was bandaged. He told me he had been shot in the foot. He asked if I would give him some money if he sang me a song.
I agreed. His song struck a chord in my heart. He sang about his life; a life of trials and tribulations.
He sang about holding on to Jesus as the only one who could save him. And as we talked he received a call on his cell phone. It was his 6 year-old son whom he had left at home alone. “Doh worry bout he, man, he cool!” he said, as I expressed my concern for the welfare of his son.
There are many families in T&T that are hurting and need healing. We live in a country in which many young children are left on their own. Leaving a cell phone with a young child so you can keep in touch while you’re out will not cut it as far as good parenting is concerned.
Archbishop Edward Gilbert said in his New Year’s Eve homily: “The nature of the family is to form people, to train them to learn values, help them to learn virtues so they know how to live their lives…I ask the grandparents to teach the grandchildren if you see the parents not teaching them. Parent, teach your children, if you do not teach them how are they going to learn?”
Sadly, for a variety of reasons, many grandparents are not part of their grandchildren’s lives. Indeed, if we are to focus on family life this year, we need to look at how we treat the older generation in our families; we must focus on intergenerational justice also. We are called to respect all life.
Let us use the prayers in the leaflet produced by the Evangelization Commission as we develop family spirituality and strive to “become what we are”.
Send feedback to: ccsjfeedback@gmail.com. To purchase: The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Take a Bite social justice programme on DVD, and the Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching, contact CCSJ at 622-2691 or 290-1635.
