It has been a rough few months for the Church. We are told that disagreeing with the dominant culture by affirming age-old truths is discriminatory and bigoted. Are this summer's legal decisions harbingers of dark days ahead for those committed to expressing their religious convictions in their daily lives?
Yes, storm clouds seem to be gathering on the horizon – but there are still reasons for hope. This week, thousands are gathered in Philadelphia to celebrate traditional marriage and family. Pope Francis is also among us. At year's end, we begin celebrating the Jubilee of Mercy.
The following words of St. Augustine come to mind: "Bad times, hard times – this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times."
How are we to live well in these tough times? Our foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan, can help answer this question. Like us, Jeanne Jugan lived in harsh times for the Church. Born at the height of the French Revolution, our future saint faced challenges on many levels. She was catechized clandestinely by a group of consecrated laywomen euphemistically known as "trotting sisters."
Jeanne's father, a fisherman, was lost at sea when she was 4, leaving her mother alone to provide for her young family. Life was austere, but neighbor helped neighbor and Jeanne learned firsthand about the corporal works of mercy. A woman of few words, she would let these works of mercy define her life.
After opening her heart and her home to an elderly woman in need, Jeanne quickly gained a reputation as someone who would never turn a needy person away. Many of her early residents had led unfortunate lives; some were quite unsavory characters. Nevertheless, Jeanne saw Christ in each of them and treated them with such love and respect that they were transformed – so much so that the townspeople no longer recognized them!
A visitor from England, later identified as Charles Dickens, wrote the following after witnessing Jeanne in action: "There is something so calm, so holy about this woman that, seeing her, I felt as though I were in the presence of a higher being, and her words went so much to my heart that my eyes – I do not know why – filled with tears."
I think that St. Jeanne Jugan would have agreed with St. Francis of Assisi's famous counsel, "Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary use words." And I think this is the advice she would give us today: "Respect others, no matter how they treat you ... Show everyone, especially the poor, the same kindness and compassion you would show Christ Himself ... Lead others to the Truth not through the eloquence of your words, but through the beauty of your example ... Let the charity of Christ work through you – for only Love can melt hardened hearts and bring them back to God."
St. Jeanne Jugan would likely give us one more piece of advice on how to live well in tough times. If she were with us today, I think she would beg us not to give in to discouragement. She often told the young Little Sisters that they were grafted into the cross and must carry it joyfully unto death ... not mournfully or grudgingly, but joyfully! As Catholics living in what has been called a "dictatorship of relativism," we have been given a heavy cross. But this cross is not insurmountable, for nothing is impossible with God. We follow a God who assured us that the first shall be last, that strength is found in weakness, that those who are persecuted will be blessed and that the meek will inherit the earth!
We believe that St. Jeanne Jugan is still living among us, obtaining for us the graces we need to continue her char-ism. I am confident that she is standing with the Church as we strive to stand up for religious liberty and Christian values, repeating something she often said to her young community: "If God is with us, it will be accomplished."
Sister Constance Veit is communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Over many Easter holidays, I have had the great joy of being reunited with my family out of town. With five kids grown and out of the house and five still at home, it's amazing how beautiful and precious little things like Legos scattered around the house or tennis shoes lying in the hallway can become when they belong to younger brothers and sisters.
As the oldest I certainly used to help divvy out the candy stash. Now on these visits I go into the pantry to get some sweets, just to find that little "mice" have discovered it first and neatly put the container back in its place – empty. I can only shake my head and grin.
At night I easily give into the temptation to extend bedtime by fooling around with the younger boys or sit up talking with the older kids – to the point where Mom comes in to see where all the laughter and noise is coming from. After proven guilty, I sleepily, but happily go to my own bed, thankful for such joys in life.
Maybe because I am now an adult or perhaps because I don't get to see my family very often due to distance, I have grown to appreciate the beauties of family life even more than I did before. I love to watch families, to observe the love and sacrifice that mothers and fathers pour into their marriage and into the lives of their children. It inspires me and warms my heart.
Even the frustrations and challenges within family life encourage me and bolster my patience with life in general. If family members can pull together in spite of each others' quirks, faults and even major mistakes, isn't that a cause for hope?
My parents' sacrifices and generosity have been the impetus behind my own desire to give myself wholeheartedly to God's will. There are often times when selfishness, fear or fatigue weigh me down and tempt me to give up, give in and bow out. However, then I look at Mom and Dad; raising 10 children they daily found themselves climbing Calvary, embracing the Cross and dying to self. No one is perfect and, of course, they made mistakes as everyone does, but they persevered. With their witness before me, I bring my "pity party" to a quick close and find the inspiration to try again.
That is the way it should be. Within the home, children learn sacrifice. Yes, it hurts and there are many sacrifices to make in communal living. However, just as Good Friday eventually rolled into Holy Saturday which turned into Easter Sunday, the joys of a family's sacrificial love are abundant and fruitful!
Our beloved St. John Paul II canonized many lay men and women so that families in the world could find inspiration and encouragement to pursue heroic virtue and holiness of life. One of these, whose feast we celebrate on April 28 and who with St. John Paul II is co-patron of this month's World Meeting of Families, was St. Gianna Molla, a wife, mother and physician. She chose to sacrifice her own life in a serious medical situation instead of aborting her unborn baby. Her mother's heart and love nurtured that child with every ounce of her being and ultimately with her very life.
However, she was not alone in that difficult decision. No, she and her husband Pietro discussed this together, doubt-less shedding many tears over the heavy cross that had been presented before them and laid upon their shoulders. Together they chose to turn their marriage over to God in a radical way, thus giving their children and the world a heroic example of Christian family life.
Their daughter Gianna Emanuela was born on Holy Saturday, 1962. One week later the brave mother died, leaving Pietro a widower and father of four young children.
Gianna had offered her life in a heroic and selfless way for her daughter. Pietro completed the sacrifice by experiencing the loneliness of his loss for 48 years and by lovingly and selflessly raising and nurturing his children.
The Molla family is one concrete and contemporary example of how the family is called to reflect the love of the Trinity and the sacrificial love of Christ for His Bride, the Church. However, Gianna and Pietro's decision was not an isolated judgment made during that final pregnancy. Instead, it was a choice they could make because they had built their marriage and family life on the firm foundation of their Catholic faith.
St. Gianna once wrote in a letter to her husband, "With God's help and blessing, we will do all we can to make our new family a little cenacle where Jesus will reign over all our affections, desires, and actions... We will be working with God in His creation; in this way, we can give Him children who will love and serve Him."
Every family is unique in how they feel called to raise their children, but every single family must keep the faith at the heart of their home.
Sister Mary Raphael, DVM, is a member of the Daughters of the Virgin Mother, a community dedicated to serving the spiritual and practical needs of the priesthood and of seminarians in the Diocese of Charlotte.