Giving due attention to the family

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
May 19, 2021

BECAUSE of our current condition where we are restricted in our movements and somehow forced to stay home most of the time, we can say that we have more time to spend with the family which is a good and welcome development. We should try to exploit this turn of events to the hilt.

Just the same, we can also say that due to the same reason, we may be so eaten up with all kinds of concerns and challenges that we can neglect our duty to give due attention and, in fact, can give bad influence to the family. We have to be ready to counter this possibility.

Whatever it is, it is important that we realize that the family be given utmost care and attention since it is the primary school of each individual and the basic unit of society. How a person is and how a society in general is depends or reflects the kind of family there is. If the family is strong and healthy, then a person and society would also be strong and healthy. Otherwise, a person and a society can only be weak and sickly also.

We need to give quality time to the family. Thus, we have to come up with plans and strategies so that the family can be as it should be—where the rudiments of love in all its aspects are learned and developed. We should not just be improvising in this responsibility. The concern for developing the true spirit of love should be addressed as seriously as possible.

It’s in the family where we learn how to be concerned with one another. We should see to it then that the culture of love, concern, compassion, mercy, understanding, etc. is strongly established there. Everything should be done such that everyone in the family learns and acquires as fully as possible all the qualities that are proper of a human person and a child of God.

It would be good if the parents establish a healthy family atmosphere where everyone feels loved and is enabled to love. The specifics of this lifestyle can lend itself to a variety of possibilities, but I suppose what is needed is to have a lot of time together—as much as possible taking meals together, praying together, and just having regular family get-togethers. But more than anything else, it is in forming a healthy spiritual life among the members that should be given priority.

That way everyone gets to know each other very well and would be in a better position to help each other. More than that, each one gets to have a good relationship with God. And the dynamics of love, which can be complicated given our unavoidable differences and conflicts, can be played out. A certain intimacy with each other is developed. This is an ideal condition to have since we are made for that.

Especially these days when life is becoming more fast-paced and there is always the tendency to simply be casual in our relationship with others, the need for a healthy family life should be felt and pursued very seriously.