It
is alarming how so many minors figure in various crimes today, particularly
those we can call dark ways of earning a living: petty theft and robbery, bag
snatching, ambushing motorists, breaking into homes, etc. As the news reveals, these are mostly
children of the poor, unwittingly lending themselves to exploitation on account
of their poverty.
But there is a more searing poverty evident in
these child offenders—it is their lack of consciousness that they are children
of God.
It doesn’t need an expert in child psychology to
see that these children were not made aware earlier in life of the presence of
God, much less of God’s love and providence. What’s dangerous is, our continued exposure to such news of
“juvenile delinquency” could desensitize us to their condition until we in our
complacency begin to accept it as “normal”.
However,
it is not too late to reverse an apparent trend—young parents of the 21st
century can still be guided by Mary and Joseph who fulfilled the law that
required their child to be consecrated to the Lord. The year 2014, being Year of the Laity for us Catholics in
the Philippines, could be an opportune time to move towards “empowering” our lay
people not just for a year, or a decade, but also for generations to come—by
“empowering” our children now.
This “empowerment” means consecrating our children to the Lord in order
to lay a foundation that is beneficial to children, their parents, and society
as a whole.
Aware of the paternity of God to their children,
parents will appreciate the young ones’ dignity and will raise them with
respect. Children who are nurtured
on the conviction that they are children of God—and are hand-led in the ways of
the Lord—will develop a greater sense of the divine in their nature and will be
inclined to regard their bodies with dignity as they grow older.
Teaching children that work is a gift from the
same God makes them value labor accordingly and gives them a higher purpose in
employing their talents to earn a living.
Thus, they will not be easily swayed to cooperate in dubious
money-making activities by predatory elders.
While this sounds doable, the reality stares us
in the face as well: that there are parents who need enlightenment for they
themselves grew up in the dark.
Such are those who rent their children out to syndicates to beg on the
streets, or who pimp for their children to make quick bucks from cybersex and
prostitution. How pathetic to see
that parents could violate their own children for the sake of “a better life
for the family”! How will these
parents be led out of the dark—and who will do it? It is a challenge to our laity in year 2014 that is too
great to be ignored.
If indeed we laypeople believe and proclaim that
we are “called to be saints and sent forth as heroes”, there is no nobler place
to begin spreading the Good News than at home, consecrating our children to Our
Father. And if we laity must be true to our “mission of sanctification and
transformation of the world”, we should reach out to the truly poor in our
midst, and not be content with curling up in the comfort of our sanitized homes
and singing hymns while sleepwalking in our beautiful churches. And that’s the truth.
