May 14, 2007

Don't Take Faith for Granted (#10)

In a messy and sometimes frightening world, it's easy to fall into a mode of reaction in which we recognize what is wrong "out there" but lose a sense of what is good. We fall into thinking that having our children avoid "the world" will automatically turn them into good people. But the faith is a living thing that needs to be actively cultivated.

Faith is a gift from God, but it is cultivated by His grace made accessible through prayer and the sacraments and also through education. Parents should provide their children with solid religious teaching, they should help make the teaching accessible according to the child's needs and abilities and they should strive to live their own life in accordance with God's will.

Cardinal Ratzinger said: "Faith is not maintained automatically. It is not 'finished business' that we can simply take for granted. The life of faith has to be constantly renewed.'

Further Information:

The above quote is from Gospel, Catechesis, Catechism (Ignatius Press)

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