Reflection
In a culture where the family meal is a practice almost extinct, , where every member of the family has a schedule independent of all the others, where the elderly either live alone or in nursing homes, responsibility to the family as a whole is a value to be sought after and a prize to be achieved. But without it , each of us will simply be another rolling stone. We’ll touch group after group after group in life, perhaps but the question is, will they ever touch us? Who will ever know us well enough to dare to confront our idiosyncrasies? Whom will we ever know well enough to have our need for control and our gift of compassion tested and tested? In what way will we make the contribution to life that every person is born to make?
There is no question that my goal in life must be to develop the best in myself to the best of my ability. The question is, Why? The answer seems to be that we grow to full stature in life in order to carry someone else. Perhaps, in fact, we never grow to full stature until we have learned to carry someone else. That’s the value of uniqueness and that’s the meaning of responsibility. By all means I should be who I am and have what I need, but you have a claim on those gifts. Those gifts were given to me as much for your sake as for my own.
Joan Chittister
Prayer
May I love and support others.
Action
Review your family relationships. How present are you to others? What contribution do you make to the whole? How mindful are you of the very young and the very old? What can you do to create a safe and welcoming place?
Suggested Reading
Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one. Psalm 133:1
In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other.
Romans 12:5
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
Peter 4:10
I prefer a family that tries to begin and again tries to begin again, to a family and a society that is narcissistic and obsessed with luxury and comfort.
Pope Francis
The secret of all greatness is to discover what you were born to do in life and then do it. You must find out your gifts and talents.”
Sunday Adelaja
In whatever way you can do so, according to the talents and gifts God has given you, you are to be salt, and light, and whatever part of the Body of Christ you were made to be. You need to tell us what’s going on with you so the rest of the Body (of which you are a part) can work together with you.
Chris Manion
Remember that our true purpose in life is to take care of one another. Our occupations are therefore tools for taking care of others using our natural talents.
Ksenia Sein
I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you.
Joyce Meyer
Love’s the greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred.
Barbara De Angelis
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
Kahlil Gibran.
Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit.
Rick Warren