P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
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INTENTION : |
That the family may become more and more a place of training in charity, personal growth and transmission of the faith.
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The Second Vatican Council dedicated much attention to the family. The Christian family thus shares in the Church's prophetic vocation: with its way of living, it "proclaims aloud both the present power of the Kingdom of God and the hope of the blessed life." (LG n 35). The family thus becomes the basic cell of society where the individual is born and grows. Its basic role in society is to promote proper growth and participation in social life.
The family should become a school of prayer and training in faith which, much later, becomes the basis for apostolic acts of charity by disciples formed holistically with the love of God. Parents are thus reminded that they are their children's first teachers of the faith. This function must not be simply handed over to the Sunday schools. Thus, parents have the right and fundamental obligation to raise their children in the faith and values which give dignity to human life.
We know that what is not learned in the first years of life in the affection and warmth of the family can never be replaced. Parents have the privilege (as well as the obligation) to take care and guide the growth of the faith their children have received as a seed on their baptismal day. The Christian education of children is a great challenge in the secularized times we live in.
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