This morning I was brought to tears while reading about the life of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. At an early age of nine, I was inspired by her profound faith and willingness to live out God's will for her. In doing so, she was taken on quite of journey of servitude. She lived to teach others the faith and love of Christ. She brought people to the faith through Catholic education and eventually started a religious community of teaching sisters. She managed to accomplish all this while being a widowed mother of five! This moment of quiet reading provided great affirmation of my vocation of wife, mother, and lay ministry.
I think about the call to marriage and motherhood. As I journey through my fourth pregnancy I often get caught up in the idea that I won't be able to do anything that makes a difference for a while, especially in the area of career success. Often I overlook the meaningful and important duties of being a wife and mother. Our duties as a homemaker are more important than we know. Every time we tie a shoe, wash dishes, fold clothes, wipe a face, feed our family, we are caring for one of God's children. What a high honor. We are doing the Lord's work even when we feel like our brains are dead and boring. At this point in my life I am learning to see this more and more. It's sometimes hard to grasp the beauty of motherhood when there's barely time to comb my hair, at least not until everyone is in bed and by that point it seems more appealing to collapse and forget it until morning. Who's going to see me anyway?
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was a woman who was on fire for her faith. She wanted people to receive the sanctifying grace of the Lord and to learn the way to eternal salvation. I am an eternal learner and hope only to share the truth that I attain through my search for answers in a way that encourages thought on God and his plan for us. I pray that others will seek truth in all things and desire truth in their faith, uncomfortable or not. Faith isn't meant to be easy.
This holy woman struggled through great loss of her husband at the early age of 30 and was widowed with five children to care for. I am willing to bet that this was not the vision she had for her life but she let God take the reigns and she went along to see the greatness that would come out of this less than desirable place she now resided. She was not an ordained religious but she had great hope for the lay faithful. As Christians we have such an important role in the nurturing of souls for Christ's Kingdom. What we do in our daily life for others is God's work in us.
We need not be teachers in the professional sense but we can be teachers by our lives. I am a firm believer of leading by example. Our lives, lived well can be the greatest inspiration for another and we need not do more than simply live the laws of love. We can all be saints. The Gospel of love is meant to be shared and lived. We are His disciples in the holy priesthood. Be it the mother working in the rearing of her children, listening to a friend in need, feeding the poor, or attending Sunday service. No role is insignificant if done with great love.
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