Changing the world — It’s a family thing

By Brad Torline.

Salvation came into the world through a family.

Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit before she was married. When St. Joseph discovered what had happened, the two of them almost separated — but God intervened, telling St. Joseph to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. (Matt 1:18-20)

Why did God do this?

I believe he kept them together because he wanted to enter the world through a family.

In a way, he still wants to enter the world through a family, but this time, through your family.

Every single one of us is called to encounter Christ, to be transformed by him, and to aid him in his work to restore all things. For most of us that will be accomplished in and through our everyday life as a family.

If you are married the primary way God is calling you to cooperate with him in the salvation of the world is through your relationship with your spouse and through your family life.

Many of us are troubled by the state of the world and the culture. Many of us want to do something about the direction our country is headed.

Our good intention — our desire to change the world for the better — often leads us straight into a trap, all-to-often set by the evil one. Worried by large scale problems, we become distracted from or even despair of the “little” role we have been called to play.

We spend all of our time watching the national news, scrolling through social media, arguing online with people we barely know, inventing grandiose plans in our mind for how the world would better if everyone just did this or that.

In the meantime we become distracted from the primary way we could actually be helping the world most — by bettering ourselves and loving those closest to us.

The situation can seem so big, so daunting, so big-scale, that we think playing our small role is useless.

It is not. Priests and religious all across the world are required, as part of their daily prayer, to pray the Magnificat, the beautiful, earth shattering words of Mary: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant … he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.”

God saves the world through “small” people doing “small things” faithfully, every day. For him that’s the name of the game — taking the “ordinary” and doing extraordinary things with it.

So don’t let the devil distract you from the so-called “small” role you have to play. None of us are small. God is using all of us to transform the world in himself.

Rededicate yourself today to living your “ordinary” life, extraordinarily. Pray today. Go to confession this week. Name your sins. Repent of them. Become better.

Cancel that meeting. Go on a date with your spouse, ask them how they are doing, how you can love them better.

Make time for your kids. Talk to them about God. Go to Mass this Sunday as a family.

If you need ideas for small ways to start integrating the faith better into your family life visit CovDio.Org/Family.

Just like Mary and Joseph, if you play your “small” part faithfully, Christ will enter the world through your family and will shake the foundations of everything and make a better future for everyone through your life.

Remember the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

Brad Torline is associate director for the Office of Catechesis and Evangelization, Diocese of Covington, Ky.