The Vocation of Parenthood

Fathers Day has come and gone, and I'm a proud father of two little guys and the husband of a wonderful wife and caring mother.  I enjoy all the things a dad and husband get to do and accept all the challenges that come with being a husband and father.  The Church is in need for the holy vocation of married life and good HOLY parents!  I'd like to remind all the parents out there that we share a very sacred mission in the church!  "These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world."  It continues "But the laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer."   (Lumen Gentium 31)

Parents out there - We have a very special mission!!! 

Our first mission: To pastor and shepherd our family - YOU ARE THE GOOD SHEPHERD to your wife- your husband- your children.  We lay down our life for our sheep every day.  We work, we clean, we get up at 3am to our screaming children, we comfort them through the storms of their life, we attempt to be patient with them and provide love and mercy when sometimes, they really don't deserve it.  The Lord knows and sees your efforts, your sacrifice your struggles and gives you areas to grow in each day.  Recognize those areas you are in need of growth, and ask the Lord for support.   "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

Our second mission:  To take Jesus into the every day world - to be in the world, but not of the world.  Woah - that's big!  We often get so caught up in being in the world we forget our challenge to stay separate.  Lets be honest for a second, its much easier to just do our job, go home and be mom/dad and enjoy our time with friends and family than to confront and challenge those around us to be more Christ like.  You have a much greater mission - do you accept?  You're in mission territory every day - we don't have to go to foreign countries to bring Christ to others. 

For the married folks out there - know that your vocation is incredibly important!  When you pull into your driveway, think to yourself - you're stepping into holy ground - your home where Jesus' hands and feet are in action through you in your own domestic church.  How are you taking Him into your home, how are you praying, how are you pastoring your family?  Likewise, when you pull up to your place of employment - You are stepping into mission territory, where the Lord may be absent and unwanted.  How can you reveal Christ to others in your work, your communication and example?  Never lose site of our call to be prepared - to be ready for that next challenge and opportunity to be Christ for others - and never forget our need to come back to Him to be refreshed and renewed as we can only be Christ for others when Christ is in us.