My favorite saint…?

“One, two, three…,” the new religion teacher said, eagerly counting the pile of reports submitted by her students. “…twenty-seven! Everyone’s here!” Clearly all the pupils were excited to write about their favorite saint.

Cynthia began ordering the reports alphabetically. She made herself a cup of coffee and pulled out the first report. It had a beautiful crayon drawing of St. Francis of Assisi surrounded by birds and other forest animals.

“This is such a wonderful idea,” Cynthia thought. “I should have asked them to also include a drawing or picture of their favorite saint.”

After going through half of the pile she decided to take a break. But she decided to finish one more paper before going. Her eyes popped out with shock as she read the plainly printed huge bold letters on the cover page:

MY FAVORITE SAINT:

ADOLF HITLER

Cynthia tried her best to remain calm. She immediately observed that the terms and style of the report were clearly copied and pasted from some website. In fact, the pupil was honest enough to include the web address at the end of her report.

In their next class she discretely called the student and asked her what made her choose A. Hitler.

“Miss, I didn’t have a favorite saint,” she replied.

“And…?”

“…I asked my sister to help me find one. She was busy and I kept

bugging her and she angrily said, ‘Why don’t you do Adolf Hitler!’”

“…did you ask her who Hitler was?”

“Nope,” the girl shrugged her shoulders. “I just Googled him and printed my report.”

“Did you bother to read what you got, dear?” Cynthia asked.

“I tried, but got bored ‘coz I couldn’t understand anything.”

* * *

Don’t be shocked if I told you that this story is true. And don’t be more shocked –as if it weren’t a known fact– that more and more young children out there are doing more than just innocently raising Hitler to the altars.

But the story above would have ended differently if the older sibling had gone out of her way to guide her sister. But why didn’t she? What occurred in her head to suggest something totally contrary to the common notion of holiness?

Clearly, a lot of individualism is manifested in her behavior. In the first place, she doesn’t want to be bothered by her sister; second, she doesn’t care or ponder on the consequences of her impatient suggestion; and third, it subtly reveals the breakdown of family love when others find it burdensome to help in something as menial as Googling a saint.

The crisis of charity in the family is the real culprit of what we often witness or hear about today when children go awry. Yes, we can blame technology, media, music, peers and even professional concerns. These are, however, only secondary aggravating ingredients to our children’s moral deformation. When the family, the cradle of love, breaks down, children become the easy prey of many vicious forces.

The mission of infusing charity into the family greatly rests on parents. This is where they are authentically responsible for their children. They must constantly remind themselves that marriage is a concrete path to holiness as St. Josemaría tirelessly taught. If parents forget this divine calling, individualism and materialism become the vicious substitutes of love and peace within the family. He said, “Only if a person forgets himself and gives himself to God and to others, in marriage as well as in any other aspect of life, can he be happy on this earth, with a happiness that is a preparation for, and a foretaste of, the joy of heaven.” (Christ is Passing By, no. 24)

To overcome individualism, St. Josemaría advices: “Listen to your children. Give them your time, even the time that you have reserved for yourselves. Show them your confidence; believe whatever they tell you, even if sometimes they try to deceive you. Don’t be afraid when they rebel, because, at their age, you yourselves were more or less rebellious. Go to meet them half-way and pray for them. If you act in this Christian manner, they will come to you with simplicity, instead of trying to satisfy their legitimate curiosity by taking it to some rough or vulgar friend. Your confidence, your friendly dealings with your children, will receive an answer in their sincerity in dealing with you.” (Ibid.)

* * *

With God’s grace and a sincere human love and sacrifice it would not be unthinkable or uncommon for children to one day submit a report titled “My Favorite Saints: My Grandparents.”