Florida Catholic | Archbishop Favalora's Column

Teach your children to be generous

December 14, 2007

My dear friends,

At our most recent meeting in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops approved a document aimed at teenagers, titled, “Stewardship and Teenagers: The Challenge of Being a Disciple.”

The frenzied Christmas shopping season might be a good time for parents to start putting some of the bishops’ suggestions into practice. Advent is not merely a time for shopping. It is supposed to be a time of spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord.

What better way to prepare for the Incarnation — God becoming one with humanity — than by reminding our children, and ourselves, of the difference between needs and wants. The fact is most of us need very little, even if we want a lot.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the bishops’ letter here: “Stewardship and Teenagers: The Challenge of Being a Disciple”

Just as Jesus humbled himself by taking on our human nature, Advent should be a time for us to humble ourselves before God and reflect on the fact that we have received much more than we deserve.

Our lives are full of material and spiritual blessings. Do we regard those blessings as our birthright or do we recognize that everything we are and everything we have come from God?

That is the attitude that characterizes a life of stewardship. That is what the bishops, in their letter, are trying to instill in youngsters, because we recognize that if stewardship is a way of life, then we must begin teaching it at a young age.

The bishops’ letter exhorts teenagers to spend time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and get involved in their parishes by serving as lectors, ushers, extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and altar servers. Pastors should facilitate this process in order to encourage young people to start taking ownership of the church they will inherit.

The bishops also exhort teenagers to put their faith into action by helping the less fortunate, visiting the sick and lonely, and even giving up the price of a movie ticket to help someone in need.

Parents can facilitate this attitude of generosity by reminding their sons and daughters — especially those in their teen years — that happiness is not contingent on getting a new iPod or the latest designer jeans. Remind them of what they asked for last Christmas and ask them where it is today. Do they even remember the presents they received from friends and relatives?

Encourage your children to include the poor in their Christmas list. Have them go out and shop for a toy for a needy child or choose some food items to donate to a family suffering economic hardship. If possible, let young people accompany you to deliver the food or toys so that they may experience for themselves that it is indeed “more blessed to give than to receive.”

That wondrous feeling of gratefulness and generosity will last far longer than last year’s gifts and make a far deeper impression on your children. Not having to “shop ’til you drop” at Christmas also might allow you spare time to spend together as a family, to play games, to pray and share meals together.

Emphasizing the values of stewardship in your own and your children’s lives is a magnificent way to relieve the stress of our far too materialistic prelude to Christmas. Think of the season of Advent as a great way to get started on the lifetime practice of stewardship.

Teach your children to be generous

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