Our Lady of Health: Accompanying the Children

By His Grace Most Rev. Prakash Mallavarapu,
Archbishop of Visakhapatnam

Our Lady of Health feast is celebrated with joy and gratitude towards Our Blessed Mother! It is her nativity; her birthday that we are invited to celebrate in the Liturgy of the Eucharist of 8th September.

Birth is about welcoming life, welcoming another human person, boy or girl, with all the joy and excitement. One could be naturally saying when a boy or girl is born, “Who knows what this tiny baby is going to be!” This is how people spoke when John the Baptist was born of Zachariah and Elizabeth, “All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” (Luke 1: 66).

We must keep wondering about how the new child, boy or girl, is going to be or become but that should not take away from the parents and near and dear ones the joy of welcoming life that God is giving and placing in the care of the mother and father.

Joachim and Anne, the parents of our Blessed Mother Mary did not perhaps know fully and clearly, what their child is going to be. But, God knew what this child is going to be, the Mother of the “Son of the Most High.” The revelation of God to Mother Mary and her acceptance of that Word of God in faith was the beginning of the unfolding of the truth about her to others who were not aware until then “what that child born of Joachim and Anne is going to be.

We should note that St. Joseph, espoused to Mother Mary was one of the first people to come to know that “virgin betrothed to him” is destined to become the “Mother of the Son of the Most High”, the Saviour of the world. Joachim and Anne saw that, St. Joseph was made to understand, Elizabeth saw it and Simeon and Anna in the temple saw that.

We who are members of the believing community believe, adore and worship Jesus Christ, Son of God made human being belonging to that long line of ‘blessed’ people who are blessed to see in faith what God had as a plan for Our Blessed Mother even before she was actually born of Joachim and Anne. Her “immaculate conception” is an essential part of that grand plan of God that was being revealed in a gradual way but in a definitive way!

Welcoming life, male or female does not really matter! One of my nieces when she gave birth to her second girl-child was not very happy. I was told that husband did not come see the child for a few days. Many a couple is not able to say, male or female it does not matter! This keeps happening frequently in our society. We want to play God! Welcoming life is conditioned by the preferential option for male or female. God’s gift of life in the person of this newly born baby is not recognized and appreciate.

In this regard our society, including our Christian Community, should be converted and liberated. Men and women in this digital era should learn to see the truth, namely, that they are not “creators of life” but only recipients of life that is given; since they are only recipients they should be grateful and they should affirm the gift of life, male or female.

Pope Francis has something beautiful to say reflecting the Christian way of looking at a newly born or child awaited: “A child is a human being of immense worth and may never be used for one’s benefit. So it matters little whether this new life is convenient for you, whether it has features that please you, or whether it fits into your plans and aspirations” (Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love, no.171).

Accompanying the children as a God given mission: Parents in general, mothers in particular, welcome the newly born child and they strive to do their utmost to accompany the child on its journey. In the case of the ‘girl child’ the parents accompany it withstanding the greater anxieties and worries that come from the society and culture, the inherited traditional mentalities towards the girl child as well as the discriminating mentality prevalent in the society.

There is also the situation of frequent occurrence of attacks and atrocities against young girls who are minors. This increases their agony. The anxieties and worries of the parents (in India) are on the increase due to the demands of the modern ways of life with their social and financial implications for the family. Along with the parents all other family members have to contribute to the growth and development of the child, assisting and enabling the child to become what God wants him/ her to become.

Accompanying the Children during the Teenage and Adolescence”: These are formative years for the children and years of blossoming of the unique persons that are potentially there as inbuilt and dormant gifts and talents. Response to the inquisitive words said about a child just born will be made clear gradually during in teenage and adolescence of the child: “What is this child going to be or become!” Ways of thinking and behaving, beginnings of taking decisions, articulating one’s likes and dislikes, wanting to go by one’s preferences, etc will slowly begin to be manifested.

This is where religion comes in. What do we or what should we positively teach the children and what do we command them to do? I think, in both of these points, the teenager and adolescent wants to be convinced why the teaching should be accepted and followed and why the commands of the parents should be followed. This is the formation that our children should get while they are growing in the family, in the school or in the college! From dictation to explanation, from explanation to discussion, from discussion to reasoning, from reasoning to persuasion, from persuasion to lead the person to make a personal decision, seems to be expected in the formative years of teenage and adolescence! But, where does one step end and when the next step is to be taken is not easy to determine!

Helping the child to learn to love God and love its neighbour: Every child, whether it is a boy or girl, should be taught to love. Life is all about love and this has to be learnt by every child. The whole of law and prophets, Our Lord teaches us, is contained in this one command: Love God and love thy neighbour.

In the book of Deuteronomy Moses tells the People of Israel, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might… Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut 6:4ff).

Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that we should love God and that it is equally important that we love our neighbour. The child born in your family should be taught how to love God and how to love one’s neighbour as oneself. This will take care of the problem of gender discrimination and the social problem of not accepting “the girl child” with respect and honour. Learning to love will be best formation of the person of the child as it advances in age. Moral and spiritual values will automatically form the bed rock of the child’s growing personality.