Our Protectiveness

The epithet, "Helicopter Parent", has reached the point of becoming trite and overused, but when introduced several years ago, it seemed like the perfect title for the "interfering parent".   I first heard it in reference to parents of grammar school children, but now I'm told it extends even to college students and graduates, whose parents do all they can to maneuver their offspring into a lucrative job. It's a natural instinct to want to protect the young and innocent, especially our own, or our friends.  Today's Gospel describes a "helicopter Peter". who rebukes Jesus  for predicting his passion and death.  Peter was trying to interfere with a plan he couldn't fully understand at the moment, and is sharply rebuked by Jesus who said to him, "Get behind me, Satan. You are an obstacle to me. You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do." (Mt 16: 23).  Interfering with God's plan is  truly Satanic, but don't we find ourselves doing just that...looking for human solutions, trying to resolve problems for others instead of simply accompanying them through a process that will lead to their growth?  We don't like to see others suffer, true, well and good, but there is a value in suffering that will be lost unless the suffering is experienced.  We really can't go through life jumping the puddles for others.  They have to learn to do it themselves.   Let out prayer bring us closer to the mind of God, and the addition of fasting and self-sacrifice (e.g. holding back the urge to take charge of someone else's life) might be that added dimension we need to accept God's plan more completely.
Bro. Rene