In the beginning, God created the world. It was still formless and empty. So he kept working at it and filled the earth, first with light from the sun, moon and stars, then with water and vegetation, followed by living creatures… Everything was prim and proper. God was happy. And God saw that it was good!
But there was something missing… The gift was perfect but there was no one to give it to. So God created a creature to whom he could give it. God got back to work, and out of some soft mud made a new creature in his ‘image and likeness’ – man and woman he made them.
From then on, God no longer made new humans from scratch. He would always rely on the existing ones for other human children to be born. When love brings male and female together, another child of God can be born into this world.
Life and society have greatly changed since these mythical, biblical times. But the truth remains that only human beings can beget other human beings, even if ways and means have changed tremendously in our so-called ‘progressive’ society.
There was a time when children were considered to be gifts from God. Modern society has taken its distance from this Christian, traditional culture that is no more.
Success is measured in terms of autonomy, self-sufficiency, unbridled freedom and comfort
Children can be a blessing or an accident, a planned project or a mistake, a solo achievement or a shared dream, a gift or a scientific miracle, a strategic calculation or an experiment tragically gone wrong.
In our pampered, comfortable, self-serving and self-sufficient culture, children have increasingly become an eventual after-thought or accessory once all the other so-called ‘needs’ dictated by society or selfishness have been satisfied.
According to this diktat, success in life is measured by money, possessions, status, leisure, impressive and impressing self-image and lifestyle. Success is measured in terms of autonomy, self-sufficiency, unbridled freedom and comfort.
Children were once considered to be a blessing, not just for faith-inspired reasons but also as part of the standard hand-to-mouth struggle for survival. Children meant ‘manpower’.
Children are a gift but also a burden. This burden was once considered sweet, healthy and rewarding. Today we have developed an allergy to any burden, including children.
Malta has the lowest fertility rate in the EU at 1.08, far below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. About a third of children born in Malta today have non-Maltese mothers. Given this trend, where is this leading us?
Our economic success is increasingly relying on foreign tourists, foreign workers, foreign mothers… Where is this going to lead us in the long term? When homes are emptied of children, they are no longer homes but cold, meaningless houses. When a country is emptied of children, the only homes remaining will be the comfortable, retirement homes, where elderly people just wait for the end to come.
Children can indeed be a burden, a headache and the cause of much pain and sorrow. But they are also a source of joy, hope and meaning in life. Welcoming and treasuring them is making an act of faith and a loving commitment to life. The big question is: where have all the children gone?
Jesus has the answer: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!” (Mt 6:21)
Fr Paul Chetcuti is a member of the Society of Jesus