Monday, January 11, 2010

Catching the Hearts of our Children

Gospel reading today Mark 1:14-20
"Come with me, and I will teach you how to catch men." Mark 1:17

Before I begin, I am excited to announce the email sign up on my blog. You can now plug in your email adress and receive Archangel Daily reflections in your email box! Thanks to my dear friend, Jennifer, for setting that up for me.

The part of the gospel today that struck me is when Jesus tells Simon and his brother, Andrew, to follow Him and He will teach them how to catch men. What does this mean to you? When I ponder our vocation with this teaching, this reading to me relates to catching our children's hearts. We discussed at our Archangel meeting on friday how to win our children's hearts. We came up with several different ways, but the one that sticks out in my mind is to show your children that you want to "be" with them. Too many mothers are farming out their children because they have better things to do and bigger accomplishments to be had. One of the mothers said something that really touched me. She has four boys, two of them are in middle school. She said they enjoy being together as a family. They go everywhere together, they eat dinner every evening/afternoon together. She said she and the boys will sit down for dinner at 4:30 if they have to because of sports in the evenings. They never miss sitting down together for dinner. But the one thing she said that moved me is that she enjoys being with her children....that they are interesting people. That comment made me realize even more that each one of these souls that have been entrusted to us are different and interesting. We can learn just as much from them as they learn from us. What a gift! To be given these interesting little characters to care for and to teach to love.

So how do we "catch" the hearts of these interesting people? By being present to them. To enjoy the ordinary days with them. To enjoy the little moments that pass by like a flash. To show them that there is nothing more important to them then loving and caring for them and their daddy. Our vocation is the most important job on earth, for as Pope John Paul said, "the family is the vital cell of society". If we don't properly care and love our family, who will?

Off to make pancakes.... Have a blessed Monday!

1 comment:

ek said...

"Fishers of men!" I love this scripture! It makes me think of that book, "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown. . .

"If you run after me," said the little bunny, "I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you."
"If you become a fish in a trout stream," said his mother, "I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you."
"If you become a fisherman," said the little bunny, "I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you."
"If you become a rock on the mountain high above me," said his mother, "I will be a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are."

We will do anything it takes, as mothers, to continue to capture our children's hearts just as our heavenly Father will do whatever it takes to capture our souls and lead us to Him for eternity!
Thanks for a another thought provoking post, Kim.