As the Family Goes

JP II Quote

"As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live." John Paul II

Saturday, January 2, 2021

2021: A Time to be Generated

Back in the fall I wanted to make my workspace beautiful, so I bought a pair of succulents.  I chose these plants specifically because I read that they do not require much care (watering once a month), and this suits my busy life: I don’t have much to give but I still want beauty.  To my dismay one of them started dying, and I thought maybe plant ownership just isn’t for me.  I began watering more frequently to keep the soil damp, as my plants lost their color and the leaves closest to the soil began breaking off.  Strangely the stem continued to reach higher, even as the base was dying. My husband said this was because it was searching for the sun and, not finding it in the lower part of the stem, it reached aimlessly upwards in search of what it was lacking. I can’t do much, but I can move my plants to the windowsill when I get up in the morning, and this has made a world of difference.  The lower leaves are stronger, color has returned, and the plant is being generated. It has found what it was searching for.

This to me provides an interested analogy for the Christian walk.  As a homeschooling mother of eight, I know what it means to be busy.  I have spent years of my life working just to stay afloat, daily life consumed me, and I found that all I was really doing was just “busy work”.  I was consumed with tasks that seemed never-ending, but in the end gave little life – like that green stem reaching aimlessly, knowing that it was missing something as beneath it things continued to die.

No matter how busy we are, we need to be generated.  And just like the plant, often the solution is deceptively simple.  A small change to our daily routine, that puts us in the sun’s rays and not hidden away in darkness.   Only in our case it is not the sun, but the Son that will bring life to our days.  He will break into the endless cycle of tasks that repeat and fill them will meaning and joy.  He will provide the backdrop for which we can engage in our lives with new meaning and deeper purpose – but even more than this.  He will cause such joy to well up in us that we will be compelled to make time to share Him and what he’s done with the rest of the world.  He will not make us less busy, but he will generate something new in us, so that our busyness does not define us – our love for him does.

If you are feeling tired going into 2021, you’re not alone.  Most of us feel that way.  It’s been a difficult year.  But try for a minute to invite someone into your life who has just met Jesus for the first time, and watch how that transforms you.  We need to evangelize like we need to breathe, like a plant needs the sun.  We need it, because it generates something new in us, to share Jesus with someone and watch them come alive.  It reminds us of why we first fell in love with him, and awakens our hearts.  I have never been more busy in my life, but I have also never been more happy, because my busyness is directed by the Lord.  When we find our source in him he won’t keep us to ourselves, he’ll send us out. We may think it is for others, and that is true.  But is also for us.  We need to share the Gospel, we need to be connected to the love of Christ that generates something new inside of us, and gives us the strength we need to encounter him in any circumstance.  We need friendship, we need community, and we need Jesus. 

As we step into 2021, my prayer for each one of us is that we connect ourselves anew to the love of Jesus, allow him to generate us, and watch where the Lord brings us in this new year.  



Monday, May 11, 2020

How Much Less to Dwell in Me

Yesterday in our Diocese, the faithful were invited to receive Communion for the first time since St. Patrick's Day, when the last Mass took place and churches were closed in accordance with Government guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid 19.  I was surprised by the mix of emotions I had as we received Him in this unusual way.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Snow in April

"Mom, it's snowing!" the kids announced shortly after lunch.  Today was a heavy day.  For no real reason, I just felt the weight of everything.  I was easily distracted, unmotivated, had difficulty focussing.  Daily tasks piled up, homeschooling was way behind schedule, and I felt everything.  My husband, knowing how good it is for me to get out and clear my head, suggested I go out for a run.  But I didn't want to.  It was snowing in April.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

What the Sign Indicates Really Happens

"This is the height which Christ reached as Lord of history. In His Resurrection, He has set the terms of assimilation to Himself, of His glory, of His making explicit that in Him all things consist, everything belongs to Him.  The assimilation of Christ brought about by Baptism is the Resurrection of Christ that penetrates history; it is the Body of the risen Christ that grows ever more according to the times of the Mystery of the Father.  And the gesture that makes the new creature possible, the one re-made by the power of God and therefore capable of new things, is the Eucharist, viaticum, food for the journey, true nourishment for the person and for his hope.  In this gesture, in giving Himself, Christ continues to bring man to perfection in Himself.  Under the sign of matter, what the sign indicates really happens - Christ becomes one with me.  An unimaginably profound ontological relationship is truly communicated to our life in a sign."  (Msgr. Luigi Giussani).

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Do Not Spare Us

I have been reflecting over this Easter Triduum what a grace it has been that I still have a domestic church to live my faith with.  It has been a real comfort to still gather the kids, and even the small annoyances of trying to plan meaningful gestures with kids become a comfort, because they make them more real and true to what we would have been living if churches had not been closed.  We have been almost as busy during this last week as we normally are, and in many ways this has been a blessing, because it connects us to the universal church.  In many ways, we have not missed too much.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Prepared in Haste


In his homily for Holy Thursday, our Bishop spoke of the first Last Supper being prepared in haste.  The apostles thought they were preparing the usual Passover meal, but then Jesus transformed it into something new that they could not have expected. He gave them His very Body when He instituted the Eucharist, established the priesthood, and gave us the possibility of sharing in this meal with Him every day since that day.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

A Different Kind of Easter

This morning while I was out for a run, I thought: next Easter is going to be amazing. We are so fortunate in our diocese that our Triduum Masses will be livestreamed, but of course, it's not the same.  Many like us look forward to attending and participating in the Easter liturgies, and not being able to be there in person to receive the Blessed Sacrament and be united with our fellow parishioners and our pastors is sure to leave a big hole in our celebrations this year. If we pretend that it will not, we are fooling ourselves.