In the Household of God

We praise you, O God, we acclaim you as Lord; the glorious company of Apostles praise you. // Te Deum (Alleluia verse of the day)

I recently moved to a deeply Catholic farming community. Being born and raised in a big city and attending public schools through high school, part of me always longed to know my neighbors by name and to have conversations where our encounters with Jesus in the Sacraments are an integrated source of life. I never imagined a place like this could actually exist, especially in today’s secularized society, but here it is. 

And without fail the people in my new community are evangelizing me with their authentic goodness and valor. 

Being evangelized by another person’s goodness, or in my case by many good people, is a startling thing. I am confronted by the fact that I had let my hope fade and become jaded. I had allowed the toxic air of skepticism to silently invade my thoughts. So I am grateful for this humble pie and wakeup call. Because it is better to live our lives in the truth of Christ, where the hope of the Gospel shines brighter and more enduringly, as Saint Paul says in the First Reading: “[Y]ou are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

It is hard in our day to hold on to the light of faith. So many things vie for our attention. They grasp and try to pull down my hope with ever-new shocking “truths” about what is “really going on.” 

But in the end, like Saints Simon and Jude, whom we celebrate today, I only have a finite number of days to live, and I am ridiculously blessed to have received the gift of faith. I pray that like them and the other Apostles whom Jesus names in the Gospel today—I can live ever closer to the heart of God and sing with all the Church Triumphant, Suffering, and Militant: “We praise you, O God, we acclaim you as Lord; the glorious company of Apostles praise you.”