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by Rev. Fr. V.V. Paulose, Toronto, Canada
"Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise." (Ephesians 6:2)
How well do we treat our parents?
Demand is the driving force for supply of goods. The moral and behavior realms
are not an exception. People are cutting all relations, moral bindings, time
tested beliefs, customs and traditions in the alter of practicability. We are
moving very close to the principle of singularity (belief in human intelligence
to create super intelligent artificial human beings to compete with the creation
of God). But the reality is that we are losing and destroying the closely knit
happy family life and its happiness and sustenance. At same time, we are not
attaining or getting the benefits of practicability or the so called fruits of
singularity. This popular mood of dumping the parents is becoming highly common
in today's world. There is a difference between obeying and honoring. To obey
means to do as one is told. To honor means to respect and love. The
responsibility to honor parents is for life. No one has the right to dodge it in
any manner or reason whatsoever.
A 68 years old mother had been shut up in the garage for four months by her son,
Kwang Yan aged 43 and daughter-in-law, Qi Tan aged 28 in Toronto after renting
out her room. She had been living in the freezing cold and now is in a critical
condition in the hospital. The couple have been arrested and put in jail.
M.K. Gandhiji, the father of India, has noted in his autobiography about an
incident that made a great impact in his life towards honoring his parents. He
saw a picture in which Shravana (a hero in the book 'Shravana Pitribhakti Nataka'
- a story about shravana's devotion to his parents) was carrying his blind
parents on his shoulders by means of slings on a pilgrimage. He writes, "the
agonized lament of the parents over Shravan's death is still fresh in my
memory." He decided that day he would also take care of his parents. When he
decided to go to Europe to study law, his mother told him, "My son, you are
going abroad, make sure that you never drink alcohol, eat meat, or indulge in
gambling." He gave his promise to his mother to abide by her wish and took a vow
that he would never drink alcohol, eat meat or resort to gambling .
"Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them. And
his mother stored all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51).
Jesus, let us love our parents in words and actions. We pray for all the parents who are abandoned and dumped by their children. We pray for all the children who are looking after their parents well. Please be the son to those parents who are lonely as you were to your mother till your death on the cross. All we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen
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