Nemo Dat Quod Non Habet

What’s this about “Nemo”? Is Father talking about Moby Dick, or that animated film from a few years back? No, this is about reality and our wholehearted participation in it. The ancient Romans had a saying: “No one gives what he doesn’t have.” My earliest introduction to this concept happened when I asked my mother for money a week before payday. I didn’t learn the proverb until I was in the seminary; Mom would suggest that I didn’t learn the concept until I was ordained! It’s one of those truths that have universal application, but especially in matters of faith.

I am concerned for parents who send their children to our fine Catholic schools and religious education programs without personally practicing the faith or instilling that practice in their children. Every fall when the kids come back to school I see several faces that I didn’t see for most of the summer. Of course many people go on vacations, but when vacation time is over, many of those faces still don’t darken the church doors!

They may not be thinking of it this way, but many of these children may be fulfilling the requirements to “get their sacraments” just so they can go on with life on their terms. They are likely following their parents’ example: not attending Mass, not likely discussing religious or spiritual topics at home, and not being influenced by Catholic values. They are setting themselves up, at best, for a life of secular humanism—doing good to those who do good unto them, things that “the pagans do” just as well (Matthew 5:46-47)…and often better, to our discredit!

Children usually and unwittingly follow the example of their parents in many respects: their habits of alcohol and tobacco consumption, diet and exercise, and religious practice. Parents know well that their role challenges them to re-evaluate nearly every action and attitude they hold. It isn’t long before parents begin to recognize their potential to be a good or bad influence on the impressionable minds entrusted to their care. Blessed are those parents who know that children are more than “hungry mouths to feed”…they are hungry souls to feed, as well! Souls need concrete, regular virtuous practices in order to mature as human beings and children of God.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the families of HGA rose above the standard of our society by entering into a living relationship with the Trinity? For Catholics this lifelong endeavor is built on the devout reception of Holy Communion and Reconciliation. It far surpasses the notion of “getting the sacraments” as if they were Presidential dollar coins or collectable items at the bottom of cereal boxes. Sacraments are the way that God renews His covenant of love with us. They are the kindling that we must constantly throw on the Holy Spirit’s fire if it is to stay alive.

Parents, the Church relies on you as the first and best teachers of your children to “see that the divine life bestowed on them is to be kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow ever stronger in their hearts” (Rite of Baptism for Children). Your faithful daily example is literally crucial: it is a share in the life-giving Cross of Jesus, which is the tree of life and wisdom.