Homily: March 23, 2022, Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent.

 “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”

This morning I did reconciliation for the Holy family school. For the children’s penance, I would usually ask them to recite one or two Hail Mary or Our Father prayers. Easy right?

Yes, and yet, some of the students told me they do not know how to say the prayers or where to find these prayers. I was surprised the very first time I did reconciliation for children in this country, but now I realized it is a common situation here.

I remember in my time, before receiving first communion, we had to memorize thirty-three Catholic prayers and recitations like the angelus, Hail Mary, all mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the ten commandments and so on. Anyone who could not recite from heart all these thirty-three items, will be denied receiving first communion. Till today, all these are still fresh in my memory.

I do feel for our children here. Simply sending them to catholic schools and religious education is not enough. Parents are the first catechists. God wants us to teach our children and children’s children.

Our Catholic faith is rich in doctrine and tradition which must not be lost. Deeper understanding and not simply rote learning is important, I agree. But there is the basic stuff, like the devotional prayers, which must be learnt first and deepen in understanding through life. 

All parishes here are moving to family-based faith formation because the church realizes that our families are not equipped to pass on the faith to our children. Many parents and adults need to be re-evangelized.

Repetitive learning, or simply, learn by memorizing, does have its effectiveness. Certain prayers and even scripture verses must be kept in our hearts. They will be the words that will guide us and help us when we get into spiritual troubles. It is thus very important that our young learn and memorize these to help them in life.

Everything is fun and entertaining nowadays, even education. But in reality, life is not all fun. Our children need to know about the seriousness of life and death, heaven and hell, salvation and condemnation. We are responsible for their faith and morality.

Jesus reminds us in the Gospel, “…whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Let us take care and be on guard, not to forget, not to let slip from our memory, and teach our children and children’s children all that the Lord has taught us. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria