Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Wenceslao: Cardinal and his Holy Family homily By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I HAVE two growing up kids, both boys, and, like many parent out there, I am groping for ways to raise them well. The first step has already been done.
We have transferred our residence to a suburban area, away from the crowded community that my old place in Sitio Kawayan, Barangay Sambag 2 has become. Here, life is serene.
The village where we live now is somewhat comparable to the Sitio Kawayan where I grew up. There was this vacant lot in front of our house at the back of T.B. Pavillon, another one beside the old clinic for palsy patients and another one at the back of the Aznar Coliseum. The river separating our place from Calamba was full of foliage.
Our place had its share of criminal elements, even some escapees from jail who found the sitio’s terrain favorable for hiding. They were the source of occasional fights and robberies. But generally we children grew up like suburban kids. Our games included tubig-tubig, syatong, etc. We listened to dramas on radio or spent our free time talking.
But the place now is teeming with people, with the formerly vacant lots now crowded with houses. I still enjoy the company of friends there, but some young kids have learned many things else, like doing drugs. The son of my elder sister got hooked on it for some time and the son of my cousin is in jail, wrongly nabbed as a drug courier.
Don’t get me wrong. I miss the chaotic life in our old place from time to time and find life in our present domicile boring, especially during Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I miss the music and dancing on the street near our house, the gathering of the clan at the strike of 12. Where we are now, only my family and a few neighbors celebrate.
But the bigger worry is the kids. And while their surrounding is a bit of an ideal, making sure they will follow the correct path is the problem. That’s why I agree with the admonition of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, during the second Misa de Gallo he celebrated, for parents to raise their children with Christian lifestyle at home.
For this, I am lucky that my wife was a child raised by a mother who practiced church rituals like these were done in a rural setting. Every Sunday we therefore make sure not to miss the mass, with our kids in tow. The activity is taxing at times but we feel we have to teach our children to appreciate religious rituals even at a very young age.
I feel that disciplining the child is not only about correcting them when they commit mistakes but also to inculcate in them the correct values. I learned that from years of organizing work, where ideology guided our organizational and political work. Indeed, ideology was fine for me, but what about my children? Christ’s teachings should work.
I agree with the good cardinal. The greatest gift this Christmas should be a renewed family life that can brave new forces of evil brought about by changing times. As the prelate said: “While we await the coming of Christmas, as we celebrate in front of the ‘belen’ or before the Christmas tree or under the ‘parol,’ let us follow the example of the Holy Family who is full of patience, love and care.”
I say amen to that.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/ my blog: cebuano.word press.com)
