CLEFT OF THE ROCK | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2022

Author: Anil Israel

Intro: Together with Scripture, Anil Israel explains the duty and responsibility of parents to raise their children in the faith and holiness. 

We were blessed with the grace to celebrate our first wedding anniversary by participating in a week-long couples’ retreat. This was purely divine providence since it set a proper foundation to our family life. ‘Holy priests come from holy families’ was one golden take-away. We thus became conscious of the reality that the blessed call to holy matrimony is a sacred call to holy family life. I am entrusted with the responsibility to help my spouse become a saint, and my spouse is entrusted with the divine task of helping me become a saint. And together we both share the supreme privilege of helping raise saintly children and thereby be partners in God’s incredible divine plan.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church vividly emphasises that parents are the children’s primary catechists. Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children... The home is well suited for education in the virtues… Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children (CCC 2223). Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child’s earliest years… Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God (CCC 2226). Now this indeed is a serious responsibility for which Catholic couples have already willingly consented before the altar, when asked by the priest: ‘Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?’ 

 So how can we respond responsibly to this esteemed mission? In human terms this might appear to be an impossible mission. But the fact remains, that Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing (Psalm 127:3). Since they are a gift from God, this mission is not an earthly mission but a heavenly mission. To make fair progress in this divine mission, we undoubtedly need divine energy – divine support i.e., grace upon grace (John 1:16). My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). So let us acknowledge our human frailty and depend on his supernatural strength, which is promised to us through the sacramental grace of holy matrimony.

As a first step, parents ought to believe that they are called to this holy mission, and secondly be willing to accept this divine responsibility. This means they make ‘the pursuit of personal holiness’ their joint-goal in life. Once they earnestly endeavour to pursue personal sanctification and sincerely propel themselves on the path of righteousness, the way of humility, the street of selflessness then they have accepted the heavenly assignment allocated to them.  Children being brilliant imitators, will eventually follow the example set before them.

In the Holy Bible, we see that the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11). When Moses requested God: Please let me see the dazzling light of your presence (Exodus 33:18), God arranged for him to be sheltered in the cleft of the rock (Exodus 33:22) as He passed by. Thus, Moses could experience the divine presence intimately. Likewise, we too can experience God’s presence in our lives. All that is required of us is to allow ourselves to be sheltered in the crevice of the rock. Now Christ alone is my rock and salvation (Psalm 62:2). If we build our lives on the solid foundation of Christ, if our lives are deep rooted in his holy living Word, then we are like the wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24). 

What would it mean to me to place myself in the ‘cleft of the rock’?  Now a cleft might appear to be a non-appealing, unattractive, unpopular and a highly discomfortable place in the eyes of the world. On the other hand, the ruler of this world (John 12:31) seems to be unceasingly attempting to drown us with innumerable suggestions as to how we ought to satiate ourselves in the varied pleasures and glittering comforts of this we-only-live-once earthly living. But it is undeniable that in the face of a storm, even a tiny gap between two rocks is a sure secure place. What might externally appear rugged and unsafe, is potentially a safe refuge for those who are desperately in need of it. Let us try to look at this ‘occupancy’ in the rock as a place of ‘spiritual disposition’. For protection against spiritual warfare, it does make sense to place ourselves on the palms of His hands (cf. Is. 49:16), to seek shelter under the mantle of our Spiritual Mother, to secure ourselves behind the armour of God (Ephesians 6:11). 

So how can we provide a ‘spiritual safe space’ for ourselves and our loved ones? What all is available at my disposal, that I start building my life on the Rock? First, we draw our focus to where the everlasting rock (Isaiah 26:4) is accessible to us in a tangible way. The Word became flesh (John 1:14) is essentially present through the Holy Bible. Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:35) is truly in our midst through the Most Blessed Sacrament, for Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23) has promised I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). Whenever, we read the Holy Scriptures, or participate in the Eucharistic Celebration or spend moments in Holy Adoration, we make humble attempts to enter the secure confines of the ‘cleft of the rock’. 

Here are some things we all can try out. As the Rosary priest, Venerable Father Patrick Peyton widely exclaimed, ‘The family that prays together, stays together! Let us therefore accommodate inexcusable ‘prayer-time’ in the busyness of our modern lives. Family prayer is therefore indispensable. Let this become the one thing necessary (Luke 10:42) that our children will learn to continue for life. ‘How beautiful is the family that recites the rosary every evening’ (Pope St John Paul II). 

During our family Rosary time, we try to encourage our children to be thankful for something that happened that day. It is pure joy to hear the many things we normally take for granted, are precisely the things we ought to be thankful for each day. Simple things like, ‘Thank you Lord that I could go to kindergarten today’ is a powerful prayer from the heart of a child.  There have been days when we have accommodated family Rosary while praying on the move, driving from one place to another. When children are young, we encourage them to participate in at least one decade of the Rosary. 

Encountering Jesus in the Holy Scriptures also needs to become a daily habit. When we read the Holy Bible, God speaks to us. Reading a passage from the New Testament during our family prayer time has helped us be open to God’s voice. It also helps familiarise children with the Word of God. We have been inspired to select a verse or a part of a verse from the Bible and write it on a small piece of paper and keep it displayed at a visible place in the living room till the next family prayer time. We also record it in a family prayer journal. The next day during the family Rosary, we try to rephrase that scripture verse as an invocation to be requested in prayer, at the beginning of every decade. E.g. ‘Lord, give me the grace to trust in you.’

When children see their parents setting priority for family prayer and reading the Bible regularly, they too will be inspired to incorporate these in their life as they grow up. I vividly recall my mother spending time in personal prayer and my father reading the Bible before going to sleep. Likewise, we encourage our children to read the Bible at their pace. It is encouraging to see our elder children have already completed reading the entire Bible while still in their schooling years. 

The Old Testament explicitly reminds parents: you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:7). We need to therefore equip ourselves with the fundamentals of our faith to be able to transmit faith instructions and Church teachings to our children without error. Family mealtimes are great opportunities for faith discussions for the entire family. 

Exposure to Catholic media, books and art also help shape our faith lives. Our bedtime stories also include stories from the lives of saints and stories from the Bible. We always have some Catholic audio running in our car. Watching a Catholic movie is also a good time for the family to bond together.  

If children are a blessing to their parents, parents too are a blessing to their children. You will be a blessing (Genesis 12:2) reminds us of our duty to place our hands on our children every day and invoke God’s blessing on them to help them grow in wisdom and stature, in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). 

God wants us to raise the quality of our family life from natural to supernatural, from earthly to heavenly, from physical to spiritual, from temporal to eternal. He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24). You raise me up to more than I can be.

Author info: Anil Israel lives in Mannheim, Germany, with his wife Sunitha and their 5 children. He is the current National Formation Co-ordinator for JY Germany.