Reclaiming the Family
There is a growing epidemic of lost youth. As each day passes, we find more and more of our adolescents who have essentially embraced an atheistic mindset, and for the most part hold that there is no greater judgment than what they have deemed necessary for their happiness; however, that happiness if usually devoid of religion and of the God, and is an embracing of serial materialism which attempts to fill the gaps in their soul. Youth and even adults continue to try to seek happiness in buying things, possessing money, succeeding at all costs, but what will be found is that something else must always be acquired. No item is ever good enough and the consuming hunger will never stop. It is only with the embracing of God and the following of his precepts that this devouring of material items will cease and that there will be peace in one’s soul. Yet, the question remains, how has this situation of serial materialism come to existence?
Since the late 1800s, there has been an onslaught against the family. This attack is visible when one takes into consideration the degradation of the married state. When the state saw fit to ‘marry’ people, the idea of God being the center of marriage evaporated, what was left was a mere civil contract and not a sacramental bond and covenant. With God no longer being placed in the center of the family, we slowly but surely begin to find him as a secondary consideration. Sundays are no longer truly holy days, but days by which to get things done. Religious education has become second class to secular studies, and those morals and values which have helped form generations of children are slowly left to erode under the torrent of secularism.
The family has been weakened. In this modern age, the family unit is no longer extended but nuclear and the bonds which traditionally made loving environments for the children to grow in continue to vanish. Even the parental unit continues to weaken under the idea of progress; we now see homes where parents are but fleeting characters in the children’s development. With both parents often working, children are left to be raised by the state and the media. What is meant by this is that the brunt of moral development is being gained in schools, under the beliefs of the state, and after the child’s day at school they are often left to come home or remain unsupervised; as a result, their viewing of television, internet, and listening to music is now forming and influencing their views on life and their ideas of right and wrong. Traditionally, there were buffers which existed to counter act such distorted teachings; first, there was the family unit, but there were also churches and religious establishments; however, in this modern age, we continue to see the loss of the youth participating in religion based activities.
It may be said that with the decline of religion within society that there now exists a void in many people, and many try to fill that void with temporal goods, things that make you happy for a moment. Yet, it should be realized that that is not true happiness, as the trinket will have to be replaced after a short period of time in order to get that same emotional happiness again. Now, it is always pleasing to acquire something new or nice, but some have nothing more than those temporal goods to bring them joy. Those temporal things need not only be the materialistic type, but can also be encounters by which ones engage in promiscuous behavior in an attempt to feel love, but ultimately, that void and emptiness will return and they will have to seek their next ‘fix’.
The dire situation which exists is not a coincidental occurrence; rather, it is an orchestrated attack on what is holy. By attacking the family unit, it is only natural that society would begin to collapse, and that is what can be seen throughout the world. There continues to be a culture of death engulfing the people and distorting the very beliefs which point the sanctity of life. Yet, all the campaigns and advertising which has occurred would have no success without the family being undermined, as the family is society’s cornerstone. From the adoption to legalized concubinage and continued deformation of the meaning of marriage and sexuality, we can behold a culture which no longer knows true right from true wrong; rather, is fed a relativistic slop about relative truth; the mere idea contradicts itself, but with no family to buffer the rhetoric, youth continue to digest the sludge that they are fed; therefore, it is necessary for families to prioritize and reclaim the holiness which is part of their very nature.
There is a truth which exists and that truth is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and as such are called to rise to holiness, and while society laments over the continued loss of our young ones and the immorality which seems prevalent, it must ask itself why? The answers are quite obvious and still out of pride and stubbornness the resolution is ignored. Therefore, we must take great pains to reclaim the family and bestow by word and deed the sacred gift of love that our Lord offers, giving hope to those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death and showing them the path to true happiness. We must strive to have the Sacred Heart of Jesus enthroned in our families and in our hearts and bring that heart, that burning furnace of charity to those who are made cold by the allurements of the world, but we must start with our own families.
As we continue this Advent, let us await the arrival of our Lord and prepare ourselves for his coming, but let us also consider the countless others who are lost in darkness and bring that divine light to them so that they too may know the joy we have in hearts and in our lives. Let us bring the gospel to the ends of the earth and counter the culture of death and materialism which is nothing but vanity and reclaim society by reclaiming the family and all that is holy.
Since the late 1800s, there has been an onslaught against the family. This attack is visible when one takes into consideration the degradation of the married state. When the state saw fit to ‘marry’ people, the idea of God being the center of marriage evaporated, what was left was a mere civil contract and not a sacramental bond and covenant. With God no longer being placed in the center of the family, we slowly but surely begin to find him as a secondary consideration. Sundays are no longer truly holy days, but days by which to get things done. Religious education has become second class to secular studies, and those morals and values which have helped form generations of children are slowly left to erode under the torrent of secularism.
The family has been weakened. In this modern age, the family unit is no longer extended but nuclear and the bonds which traditionally made loving environments for the children to grow in continue to vanish. Even the parental unit continues to weaken under the idea of progress; we now see homes where parents are but fleeting characters in the children’s development. With both parents often working, children are left to be raised by the state and the media. What is meant by this is that the brunt of moral development is being gained in schools, under the beliefs of the state, and after the child’s day at school they are often left to come home or remain unsupervised; as a result, their viewing of television, internet, and listening to music is now forming and influencing their views on life and their ideas of right and wrong. Traditionally, there were buffers which existed to counter act such distorted teachings; first, there was the family unit, but there were also churches and religious establishments; however, in this modern age, we continue to see the loss of the youth participating in religion based activities.
It may be said that with the decline of religion within society that there now exists a void in many people, and many try to fill that void with temporal goods, things that make you happy for a moment. Yet, it should be realized that that is not true happiness, as the trinket will have to be replaced after a short period of time in order to get that same emotional happiness again. Now, it is always pleasing to acquire something new or nice, but some have nothing more than those temporal goods to bring them joy. Those temporal things need not only be the materialistic type, but can also be encounters by which ones engage in promiscuous behavior in an attempt to feel love, but ultimately, that void and emptiness will return and they will have to seek their next ‘fix’.
The dire situation which exists is not a coincidental occurrence; rather, it is an orchestrated attack on what is holy. By attacking the family unit, it is only natural that society would begin to collapse, and that is what can be seen throughout the world. There continues to be a culture of death engulfing the people and distorting the very beliefs which point the sanctity of life. Yet, all the campaigns and advertising which has occurred would have no success without the family being undermined, as the family is society’s cornerstone. From the adoption to legalized concubinage and continued deformation of the meaning of marriage and sexuality, we can behold a culture which no longer knows true right from true wrong; rather, is fed a relativistic slop about relative truth; the mere idea contradicts itself, but with no family to buffer the rhetoric, youth continue to digest the sludge that they are fed; therefore, it is necessary for families to prioritize and reclaim the holiness which is part of their very nature.
There is a truth which exists and that truth is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and as such are called to rise to holiness, and while society laments over the continued loss of our young ones and the immorality which seems prevalent, it must ask itself why? The answers are quite obvious and still out of pride and stubbornness the resolution is ignored. Therefore, we must take great pains to reclaim the family and bestow by word and deed the sacred gift of love that our Lord offers, giving hope to those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death and showing them the path to true happiness. We must strive to have the Sacred Heart of Jesus enthroned in our families and in our hearts and bring that heart, that burning furnace of charity to those who are made cold by the allurements of the world, but we must start with our own families.
As we continue this Advent, let us await the arrival of our Lord and prepare ourselves for his coming, but let us also consider the countless others who are lost in darkness and bring that divine light to them so that they too may know the joy we have in hearts and in our lives. Let us bring the gospel to the ends of the earth and counter the culture of death and materialism which is nothing but vanity and reclaim society by reclaiming the family and all that is holy.
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