The Love of a Father

Many years ago, the members of a Greek colony in Southern Italy, had grown so lax in morals that their leaders could stand it no longer. So they asked Zalaukas, a good, and honourable man, to write up some laws for the guidance of the people. Zalaukas then took up his pen and did so with great care.

But, after the laws were told to the people, a great sorrow came upon poor Zalaukas. His son was one of the first people to break the new law. The judges told Zalaukas that his son must suffer from the just law, which he had written down. Now the crime, which the son committed, must have been very serious, because as his punishment, both of his eyes were to be taken out—he would become blind!

Zalaukas did not think of asking for mercy for his son, but because he loved his son so much, he first sat down to think of some way that he could make the judgement lesser for his son. After much thought he decided to offer one of his eyes for his son.

The sentence was carried out: the son’s right eye was removed and the father’s left eye was removed. The missing eye of the father must have reminded the son of the law which he had broken but also that his father loved him very much to have offered one of his eyes.

At first you may think that this was a very great sacrifice, which the father, Zalaukas had made. But we know that there is somebody much, much greater than Zalaukas who has made an even greater sacrifice. It is our dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! He died on the Cross for us and before dying He suffered terribly, so that we would be saved and after we died, could go to live with Him in Heaven.

When we look at a crucifix or a picture of Jesus Crucified, we are reminded that He suffered much for us and that we should be very thankful to Him for doing all He did for us. We should also remember that it was our sins, which caused Jesus to suffer and die on the cross. And we should remember this also; when we commit a sin, we are guilty of putting the nails in the hands of Jesus, or of pushing a thorn into the head of Jesus. By confession, we pull out the nail or the thorn, but the hole still remains. WE MUST FILL IN THIS HOLE BY DOING PENANCE FOR OUR SINS! In this way we will make Jesus happy. We will prove to Him that we truly sorry for our sins, because we did penance for them and tried to live a better life.

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