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his obedience and faithfulness to God. And just as Isaac, Jacob and other
forefathers maintained faithful obedience to their fathers and received “the
Blessing”, every child is called to be faithful to the moral instructions of the
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parents and as a culmination they inherit the final “blessing”.

4.1.5.3.5 The Sense of Sacrifice in the Sanctuary of Life

The Knānāya customs also uphold the idea that no human family is
possible without personal sacrifice on the part of its members. Parents and
children ought to practice sacrifice for the common good of the family.
Where there is no such sacrifice, family is impossible. Pope John Paul II
asserted it: “Family communion can only be preserved and perfected
through a great spirit of sacrifice. It requires, in fact, a ready and generous
openness of each and all to understanding, to forbearance, to pardon, to
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reconciliation”.
Parents sanctify their children through the sufferings they themselves
bear, the sacrifices they make, and the love they manifest toward their
children. Children, too, are called to sanctify their parents. It is interesting to
note that the CCC states: “Children in turn contribute to the “growth in
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holiness” of their parents”.
The sacrifice of the wife and mother in the family is pre-eminent: the
sacrifice she must make while she is pregnant and in childbirth, and later,
rearing her children. Her sacrifice as wife and mother includes the suffering
that she has to bear for the well being of the family. Pope John Paul II
affirmed it: “It is difficult to enumerate these sufferings; it is difficult to call
them all by name. We may recall her maternal care for her children,
especially when they fall sick or fall into bad ways; the death of those most
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dear to her”.

60 Cf. VELLIAN, J., “Marriage Customs of the Kinanites”, in J. VELLIAN (ed.), Crown,
Veil, Cross, Syrian Church Series Vol. XV, Kottayam, 1990, p. 28. Cf. JOHN P. M.
PULLAPPALLY, “Socio-religious Customs of Knānites” (Malayalam), in J. VELLIAN
(ed.), Symposium on Knānites, The Syrian Church Series, Vol. XII, Kottayam, 1986, pp.
110-111. Cf. J. VELLIAN, Knānite Community History and Culture, Syrian Church Series
Vol. XVII, Jyothi Book House, Kottayam, 2001, pp. 30-31.
61 Familiaris Consortio, no. 21.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2277.
63 JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, no. 19, 15 August, 1988, in AAS
80, 1988, pp. 1653-1729.

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