Recent events in my life have caused me to think with gratitude about the accidents that led to the gift of my Catholic faith, though, of course, nothing is an accident with God. My family heritage is mostly Protestant, yet my parents were baptized into the Catholic faith. My maternal grandmother converted to Catholicism because of the kindness of a family with whom she was boarding.
In those days, young women were farmed out to families and boarding houses to earn a place to live by cleaning, cooking, or taking care of children. She married a Catholic man and so my late mother was Catholic and very faithful. My father was the product of a “mixed” marriage. His mother was Catholic, while my paternal grandfather was decidedly Protestant. Yet he supported his children’s Catholic education and even heard my father’s catechism as he prepared for the sacraments. When my father was orphaned at 16, the guardians appointed for him and his siblings were also not Catholic but they made certain that the children continued in the faith. Because of their faithfulness to a commitment, I am who I am today.
You Know What Sort of People We Were Among You
It makes me reflect that faith is an intentional gift from God, assisted by human agency. It makes me realize that we need to consider what sort of people we are among others. We can be the example that is so clear and convincing that there is “no need to say anything.”
We can be the opening to the Kingdom of Heaven by our actions and attitudes rather than the ones who do not enter the Kingdom “nor…allow entrance to those trying to enter.”
We can be the source of thanks to God instead of those to whom the words “Woe to you…you hypocrites.” I recall my forbears with deep gratitude for their “endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
May they rest in peace.
