What is the basis of your decision making? As Catholic Christians, mastering the 10 commandments helps us discern right from wrong easily. When confronted with several choices and tough situations, we take decisions based on Christian values. If someone is asking for your help to escort them to a shrine, for example, knowledge of the first commandment, I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me, is key.
The first duty of a good Catholic Christian is knowledge of the Catechism. How well do you know your religion? One Saturday in 2012, at about 3pm, during the pre-Baptism briefings for the parents whose Children were ready for Baptism at the Mbuya Parish Church, one parent asked, “Why do we have to baptize Children?”
If you have read the bible, you know that “Acts 2:38,39 Peter in his first sermon makes it very clear that the promises of baptism are for adults and their children. “Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to whomever the Lord our God will call.’”
It is your personal responsibility to create your vision and share it. As a Catholic, you must have a vision anchored on Christian values. That requires you to read and understand your faith. Short of that, you will be susceptible to lies and doubt, which is not good for your salvation.
What is your vision and how have you shared it with those you work for and with? Take an example of married couples; they must have a shared family vision. Lack of which will lead to division. They must sit and iron out all their differences. Failure usually leads to divorce.
The formula for good relationships is simple – shared vision -> failure to have one leads to division -> failure to fix the differences quickly leads to divorce. Vision, division, divorce is a critical process to recognize and work to manage effectively.
If you don’t understand your Catholic faith, you will not have a shared vision with all Christians. Failure to do so, will lead to division this will manifest in your failure to pray consistently, failure to observe all the sacraments as well as failure to keep God’s commandments. You will slowly start sinning and not repenting. As you lack knowledge of the Sacrament of Penance or Confession! Failure to go back to observing the Christian values will create a gap and ultimately divorce you from your faith.
Lack of shared vision, leads to divisions, which lead to divorce if not managed. Be it at work, home or Church. Do learn and master the shared vision, if you don’t you will be divided as your divergent beliefs will keep you away from the rest. This will cause your divorce. And that happens to be the leading cause of family breakages today. Stop lying yourselves, without a common vision that is 30+ years binding, chances of breakup are high. If you marry for beauty or money, the ‘shared vision’ is short term and therefore not a strong foundation to create a lasting bond.
