Mt 9:27-31 According To Your Faith!

Mt 9:27-31  According To Your Faith!

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As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!”  …Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?”  “Yes, Lord,” they said, to him.  He touched them and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”

The crèche, like the Cross, is a mystery to us.  It is something we wouldn’t have expected from the Lord.  So…what would you have expected?  As for me, I don’t know…something more like…incredible, amazing, powerful, and awesome!  But that’s according to my faith.  And there lies the problem. 

A while back, someone left me a comment that went something like this: 

“Dear Fr. Alfonse, as parents we worry about our children and some decisions they make.  We can’t protect them forever.  We can only give them the guidance and instruction to make more appropriate decisions.  If we tell them over and over again it’s almost like we are harping on it.  They learn to block you out after awhile.”

Now, I think this person is trying to say that we can’t live our children’s lives.  I agree.  We can’t.  But we can definitely help guide them and encourage them along the proper way, and we can do that up until the day we die, not forever.

After all, some of us have twenty years of a head start on them.  Others have thirty; maybe even forty years of a head start.  We may not be able to live their lives for them, but we can definitely avoid them living our broken lives over again!  There is no reason why children cannot learn from our past mistakes. 

For example:  There’s no good reason why your son or daughter should not know how to change a flat tire on their car.  If they don’t know how to do that, then it’s your fault!  Haven’t you had a flat tire?  Didn’t you have to change it when you least expected it and at the worst possible hour of the day?  Yes, we might not be able to be with them when they get their first flat tire, but they should definitely know from us how to take care of it.  Now, let’s move on to more serious things.

Did you have issues with purity when you were a teenager?  Have you spoken to your son or daughter about them?  Or are you waiting for them to figure it out for themselves? 

Are you divorced?  Did you ever tell your son and daughter why you got a divorce and maybe the mistakes you learned from it?  Why not?  Why in the world would you not give your child the heads up on what to look for in a man/woman?  Why wouldn’t you tell them what fooled you the first time you got married?

Did you have sex before you were married?  Have you spoken to your son and daughter about that?  Have you opened your heart to them and told them how you thought “this time” would be different, forever, or that it would make you feel more loved?   Did you ever tell them what it felt like to give more of yourself than anyone ever deserved?  Did you ever speak to them about how you felt coerced to stay in a relationship? 

Did you get pregnant before you were married?  Have you found the courage to speak to your child about it, and the sacrifices you had to make to overcome the pressure to get an abortion?  

Did you have an abortion?  Did you help someone to get an abortion?  Did you force your girlfriend to get an abortion?  So many parents hide this fact from their children.  Why?   Out of shame?  Out of pride?  Why in the world would you not give your children the greatest lesson you learned when you made the biggest mistake in the world? 

Let it be done according to your faith.  I will tell you what I have seen as a priest.  Children tend to make the same mistakes their parents made when they were growing up.  Why?  Because we prefer to do things according to “our faith” rather than according to God’s Word.  Mary protected her Son.  How?  “Let it be done to me according to your word.”  That’s how!  Like Father like Son.  Like Mother, like Son!

Man has been in existence for hundreds of thousands of years, and by the looks of it, we still have a hard time with it.   We don’t get it!  We still struggle with finding the right spouse and with raising holy kids.  I think the Lord allowed us to run wild for a while, and then, two thousand years ago, He said, like a good parent:  “Enough!”  And put us all in Time Out.  Silent night!

Advent is Time Out.  Twenty-four days of it.  It’s God’s gift to us.  It’s a chance for us to reflect on what we’ve been doing and why we’ve been doing it, and maybe make a radical decision to do things His Way, the humble way, the best way possible.  That’s one way of protecting our children. 

Our life (our Faith) should be based on His Word.  That’s humble enough.