Words for all of us to live by

168. At times, seeing a world so full of violence and selfishness, young people can be tempted to withdraw into small groups, shunning the challenges and issues posed by life in society and in the larger world. They may feel that they are experiencing fraternity and love, but their small group may in fact become nothing other than an extension of their own ego. This is even more serious if they think of the lay vocation simply as a form of service inside the Church: serving as lectors, acolytes, catechists, and so forth. They forget that the lay vocation is directed above all to charity within the family and to social and political charity. It is a concrete and faith-based commitment to the building of a new society. It involves living in the midst of society and the world in order to bring the Gospel everywhere, to work for the growth of peace, harmony, justice, human rights and mercy, and thus for the extension of God’s kingdom in this world.

I am reminded of the wisdom of a spiritual director who asked me what's the most important ministry I do in the Church. At the time, I was unemployed and singing in choir on Sundays, so I said Choir. He corrected me by pointing out that I am a husband and a father. That's the most important ministry I will ever do!

I am also reminded of the wisdom of Mother Teresa, who said if one wants to save the world, one should gather at table with family. Social science research bears out that families who pray together at table at least a few times per week produce children less likely to do drugs, more likely to graduate, and more likely to abstain until marriage.

Charity within our homes yields charity within our society.

183...There is extraordinary beauty in the fellowship of a family at table, generously sharing what food it has. There is beauty in the wife, slightly dishevelled and no longer young, who continues to care for her sick husband despite her own failing health. Long after the springtime of their courtship has passed, there is beauty in the fidelity of those couples who still love one another in the autumn of life, those elderly people who still hold hands as they walk. There is also a beauty, unrelated to appearances or fashionable dress, in all those men and women who pursue their personal vocation with love, in selfless service of community or nation, in the hard work of building a happy family, in the selfless and demanding effort to advance social harmony. To find, to disclose and to highlight this beauty, which is like that of Christ on the cross, is to lay the foundations of genuine social solidarity and the culture of encounter.

-excerpts from Christus Vivit