Christine Meert's picture

“Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God.  Do all that you do with love!”  

This is one of my favorite quotes of one of my most favorite saints…St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  I would be amiss if I did not take some time to reflect on this beautiful saint during the week in which we celebrate her feast day, on October 1.   

When my husband and I first got married there was surely an abundance of joy. Being married felt like the most exciting adventure that we could have embarked on and we were ready to jump straight in. We were immediately thrust into a time of transition that was marked by new jobs, a cross country move, and entering into life as full-time missionaries. It was a lot, but it was exciting. 

Women willing to give up their career (be it temporarily) to stay home for their children should be prepared to have this choice criticized as a waste of talent, a suppression of women, an impediment to self-realization, or as the confirmation of patriarchal structures. This is illuminating for the philosophy of modern culture. It uncovers how society thinks about freedom and the important things in life: freedom is the state of not being constrained by any external factors and what really matters in life is making money, careering and accumulating goods.

Once again, Christianity offers a great alternative view, turning the worldly logic upside down. Here are 8 arguments in favour of staying at home.

I was in 8^th grade when I received the Sacrament of Confirmation. During the preparation process you are supposed to choose a patron saint, and I was having trouble picking one. I grew up reading about the saints but no particular one was really sticking out to me. If it were now, I probably would have picked St. Paul or St. Philip Neri, or maybe even Zelie Martin. But at the time, I chose St. Bridget of Sweden.

I’m not going to mention the usual Halloween stuff which surrounds us this time of year. Indeed I highly reccommend reading this on just how bad things have got in our culture around the ghoulish.

This week I’ve been thinking of how I can help my 7 year old boy [who is now preparing for his first confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Advent and First Holy Communion next year] explore his school religious education theme of seeing the “home” – our family, but also our extended family – as the environment where he is learning to know and appreciate human love as the expression of God’s divine love in his life.

Last week we celebrated the feast of St. Maria Goretti, the youngest canonized Saint in the Church. A modern saint who died on July 6^th, 1902 at the age of 11. Most people who have heard of her know that she died from being stabbed 14 times by an older boy who wanted to rape her.