7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Lord, when you speak of peacemakers, I think of obedience. How peaceful this world would be if children obeyed their parents, and if Church members and the Clergy would obey and follow the teachings of the Church!
After her children had left home, a friend of mine regretted not stressing the Fourth Commandment when her children were still under her care. In many families the honor and respect due one’s parents is often missing. I had breakfast with an older man, a friend of my dad’s, whose son would not come to visit his mother when she was dying. There are many cases where child and parent are not talking or where one sibling will not talk to another sibling.
Please, Lord, help us as parents to instill in our children a sense of honoring their parents and respecting those in authority. Give us peace in our families.
May the bonding in breastfeeding teach our children how to love as they grow older and develop other relationships. May they also grow to respect and appreciate their friends and the elderly, especially their aunts and uncles and grandparents.
Help me, Lord, to remember that breastfeeding is only a start. There is also the truthful saying that “the family that prays together stays together.” The rosary is such a help to family life with Mary’s protection. Please, Lord, grant us our family peace. (anonymous mother)
(Sheila Kippley, 2005)