"Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” // Mark 5:19
"Why do we have to go to church? It's so boooorrring. I don't wanna."
"Because it's one of the commandments, and Jesus wants to see you! Now hurry up and get your shoes on so we're not late!"
Sister, I confess that I have been the speaker of both (and similar) statements above, most recently the latter, exasperated while rushing my children out of the house in less-than joyful ways. And while it is my obligation to both attend Mass weekly and take my children, it's counterproductive to my vocation to be hasty, cranky, and a nag.
Maybe I need to implore the Lord to cast the evil cranky spirits from my heart into some outdoors pests to be trampled underfoot.
And then. I'll be begging for the grace to be both joyful and humble in sharing—with the very same family I too often nag—all the good that the Lord has done for me.
While at first glance it seems easy to "just" go home (a less-than-exciting mission territory) and tell my family about the Lord's work in my life, that is precisely the very place He has called me to witness to His great love. Home—whether with siblings and parents, college roommates, a husband, apartment neighbors, or sisters in the religious life—is where the heart is, and home is where Jesus' love must be known.
Whether or not I write for Blessed is She, whether or not you go on a mission trip, whether or not you may freely speak of Jesus in your workplace, Jesus' call applies to me and to you within the walls of our homes.
I'm feeling fairly convicted right now to do a solid examination of conscience and go soon to Confession (that nagging habit of mine has to go!), and then it'll be a new day to start again, sharing what the Lord in His pity has done for me.
Home is where Jesus' love must be known. // Nell O'LearyClick to tweet
Gina Fensterer is a wife and mother of six children. She is passionate about finding God in the ordinary moments of her vocation. She loves Adoration, praying with Scripture, long morning walks, and fitness. She was a contributing author to And Hay Became Holy and our children's devotional prayer book called Rise Up. Read more by her here.
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