"Charity begins in the Home"

Today's Gospel Reading Mark 5:1-20
"...the man begged of Jesus, 'let me go with you!', but Jesus would not let him go. 'Instead', Jesus told him, 'go back home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how kind he has been to you'."

I experienced something amazing on friday night. I was asked by the youth director of our church to speak to the teens at an over night confirmation retreat about my love for the Blessed Mother. When she asked, I immediately wanted to say no because I would be speaking around 11:00 PM. That is way past my bed time and I have to wake up and care for little ones early on saturday morning because my husband has to check on things at the bakery. As much as I wanted to say no, I remembered I had dreamed about being confirmed the night before she asked. So of course, I knew I had to be obedient to the Lord. I dreaded it all day friday and at 8:00 when my children were nestled in their beds, all I wanted to do was go crawl in bed with my hubby and snuggle and watch fox news or a movie. (i know that sounds boring, but crawling in bed is my favorite time of the day!) But I kept offering my sacrifice up as a prayer. So in a nutshell, the Holy Spirit was so present as I spoke and I was moved to tears afterwards. The youth gathered around the candle lit alter and the youth minister said the most moving prayer. As I watched these teens touched by the Holy Spirit, all I could think about was how I wished I could be involved in the youth ministry. However, I was reminded I have a family to take care of first. So my point this morning is linked to the gospel, when this man wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus said to spread the good news to his family first. As much as we yearn to be really involved in a ministry outside our homes, we have to remember our greatest ministry is being the care taker of our home and family. As Mother Teresa would say (i think it was her) "Charity begins at home". We will have plenty of time in our lives when our children are older to be involved with other ministries. A little here in there is great, but we can't leave our families to dive into something else.

So rest in knowing you are doing more than you can imagine for the Kingdom of God by loving and caring for your family. You have a full blown ministry right under your roof. Dive in and give it your all!

Blessings to you this Monday!