English
EspañolDo you want to be a good father or mother? Never consider a child a lost cause. Sow your confidence in him, nourish him with the hope that he can improve, nurture with your loving companionship any little sprout in his heart, and give him time. Your child always, no matter what, needs a father and a mother who love him with faithful hope. You do not reap the same day you sow.
Text
“The hope of one who knows that others can change (…)does involve realizing that, though things may not always turn out as we wish, God may well make crooked lines straight and draw some good from the evil we endure in this world.” (The Joy of Love, n.116)
Commentary
Hope is the heartbeat of faithful love. And discouragement, falling into despair, is a loss of faith in the power of love. Have faith in your love. Do not succumb to the temptation of quitting because “there is nothing to do and, besides, it is not worth it.” Fathers and mothers must understand the depths of their love: their faithful hope in trusting the life of the one they have begotten, especially when difficulties and contradictions arise in the upbringing of children. Even in their worst drifts, children need in their innermost being to know that they can still count on the hopeful love of their parents. It is one thing to give good advice, to tell them lovingly what is true and good, and on the other hand, it is pretty different to punish, condemn and abandon the offender. Our condemnation plunges them into desperation.
Sometimes, when faced with difficult situations provoked by a person who is not aware of the seriousness of the facts, we can feel the temptation of discouragement, that all is lost and that “this is as far as we have come.” This discouragement is more significant when a spouse or child causes it. Banish inaction and look at the future with hope. Your love, now sorely tried, asks you for this in order to grow. Pray to God for that person; they will change sooner or later. In the meantime, you will learn to love more and better, which radiates to your children´s hearts. At some point in their life, some of your faithful love will make them rise again and rectify.
Perhaps we will not see that moment. Sometimes, the sowing of our love blossoms in our children when they have their own children or after our death. The experience of many sons and daughters when adults demonstrate this extraordinary fact: the love of their father or mother, now deceased, sowed in their children was more present than ever and resurrected them from their drifts. Some time ago, I learned of the statements of a mother of a boy who was a drug user and had become a delinquent. She said that he would always be her son, although he now seemed not to care, that she was always ready to receive him and help him leave the wrong path. The faithfulness and hope of this maternal love saved the son from despair and suicide.
