St. Josemaría Escrivá Read:    2 Kgs 22: 8-13; 23: 1-3        Mt 7: 15-20

DAILY PRAYER

“Be on your guard against false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but underneath are wolves on the prowl.  You will know their deeds.  Do you ever pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from prickly plants?  Never?”  (Mt 7:15-16)

We are a living testimony for, or against, Jesus Christ.

This is no less true for the family.  Children belong to God, and He reserves His rights.

The parent who sets their children against the other parent is doing irreparable harm to their child’s psyche.  But they do much worse still if they neglect to educate their children in the faith, Sacraments, service, or teachings of Jesus.

A “wolf in sheep’s clothing” is the lie that we have to provide all material and worldly goods first before we take care of the spiritual goods of the Lord.  By showing this indifference to our faith in word and deed, what we do is reject God’s plan in our daily affairs and forever teach our children to do the same — God takes up an auxiliary place in our hearts. And we succeed in extinguishing the flame of faith in our child’s heart.

Glorious is the mission of parenting, but how quickly and easily it is misdirected or undermined by not following and living the holiness that God asks of us.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 145:4 “Generation after generation praises your works and proclaims your might.”

St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, d.1975. Spanish priest founder of Opus Dei. Taught all are called to holiness by God in their ordinary life. He was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, who declared Josemaría should be “counted among the great witnesses of Christianity.”

OUR PRAYER CONTINUES