Believing parents, indifferent children

There are believing parents who have given a good witness of their faith to their children, with words and deeds. Sometimes the children do not seem to pay much attention to their parents in this religious matter. They may respect their parents, but they do not show interest in religion, they do not practice it, they are distant from the Church. Believing parents produce children who are atheists, indifferent or non-religious. When this happens, there are parents, with very good will, who love their children and pray for them, who wonder how it is possible that their children do not embrace the faith: what have we done wrong? Where have we failed?

To begin with, this question is wrongly posed. Surely they have not done wrong, they have done what they could, and what they have done has been good. So where is the problem? An easy answer is to say that the opposite case also occurs: religious children are born from atheist or anti-religious parents. Even if this observation is true, it is worth going to the heart of the problem. First to reassure the parents that they have done what they could and then to understand that good words and good examples are not enough to bring about faith.

For faith to be born, two things are required: one, the proclamation of the Gospel. Faith is not born spontaneously, it is the result of a proclamation, it is the consequence of a good presentation of Jesus Christ. For the proclamation to be correct, eloquent preaching and good signs of faith are required. In the case of parents, preaching consists of educating their children in the faith and signs consist of giving them an example of Christian life and practice. But this alone is not enough for faith to be born.

In order for faith to be born, in addition to preaching and an eloquent, convincing and convincing testimony, this announcement must be accepted by the recipient, in our case by the children. The announcement is the responsibility of the Church, of the parents. Acceptance is free and is the responsibility of the recipient of the preaching, it is the responsibility of the children. In acceptance, the freedom of the listener comes into play. Freedom can be conditioned by many things, but ultimately the person who has to take the step of acceptance is the recipient himself, the one to whom the preaching is addressed. And in this case, believing parents no longer have any responsibility. Acceptance, although it requires a good announcement and a good testimony, is a matter between God and each one.

One more thing: we never know when our words and examples will bear fruit. They may not bear fruit as quickly as we would like. They may bear fruit at the most unexpected moment. The job of good parents is to educate their children in the faith. That is where their job ends. Perhaps, at first, they may be a little sad or disappointed because their children do not respond as they would like. We must continue to pray, because perhaps, one day they will be surprised to see their children integrate into the Church. And if they do not have this pleasant surprise, they should not blame themselves, but rather love their children as they are, because God loves them that way.