Children in the Church Today- Part #2

" When we consider the question of church attendance, and Holy Communion, and prayer at home, we must have in mind not only the immediate result, but also a long-term view: what is the best preparation for this child to live a Christian life in this world? What will sow in the child a spiritually healthy attitude to Christ, to the Church, and to the sacraments? What will help him/her to preserve until adulthood the desire to know Christ and have communion with him? Sometimes children attend church very often and yet inwardly they are rebelling and rejecting grace. Some athiests were brought up in pious families."



In reading this, I was very impressed. This is such a refreshing view; that we are working to help the child to "desire to know Christ and have communion with him." We are not trying to make it to every service, or impose certain expectations on a child. Rather, we are trying to teach them to love Christ. This makes me think of the verses in Ephesians exhorting parents to not exasperate their children. This does not mean of course that we sleep in on Sundays instead of going to church, but it does make the point that we are dealing with a unique human life, and we need to maintain a long-term view.