The Domestic is not Docile
Lord Jesus, help me to see opportunities to grow my house into Your home. Open my eyes and heart to bringing Your love more present within these walls. Help me to recognize the talents You have entrusted me with that I may use them, grow in them, that when trials come sweeping into my life they do not sweep me away. Amen.
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls…she brings him good not evil
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.
The Church is known as the bride of Christ -and- according to Vatican II, the family is the ‘domestic church’. Our homes/families are called to be little churches in this world of chaos.
Looking at your domestic church of home, whether it be a church of 1 or 12, how are you creating a pearl of great value? How does your church best reflect the kingdom?
Think of how pearls develop: a grain of sand rough that is built up around layer by layer over great time smoothing out the roughness. So too our domestic church of home, it is a process built upon relationship with each other, with our posessions, and most of all with our Lord. Where in your home can you work to smooth out some areas that might be rough?
Psalm 128 Blessed are you who walk in His ways for you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; Blessed shall you be
Where in your life has following God’s ways been fruitful (whether it be the basics of the commandments or following the example of our Lord in His teaching and actions)?
1 Thes 1:5-6 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night
Often I read this letter of St. Paul’s and look way forward either to my own death or to the second coming of Christ. This week as I read this letter I reflected on the day to day life of Christianity that is in itself a series of highs and lows, of building up and tearing down. Adversity rarely comes into our life with warning. It too resembles a thief in the night. When the thief of adversity arrives, do we have our Lord ready, present, and on guard?
What does your life and your domestic church look like in times of adversity? Are you well armed with Him or are you caught off guard without a Savior? How has this changed over the course of your life and the course of your spiritual life? Would someone who gets a peek inside see a pearl of great value?
St. Paul gives us the template for adversity in his letter to the Ephesians
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Matthew 25:14-30 Well done my good and faithful servant
Where in your life are you seeing a return on the gifts that God has entrusted to you?
Where perhaps are you leaving some gifts in the closet or basement unused?
Coming back again to our domestic church of home, we are heading into the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas. What gifts has God given you that you can put to use to have Thanksgiving and Christmas better reflect the sacred and to better reflect love, hope, joy, and peace?
