Greetings Parents!
A Catholic radio host on a Catholic station (Dr. Ray Guarendi - humorous and insightful - on EWTN!) commented this week on statistics he'd discovered regarding young adults and employment. There are many entry-level job openings, but young adults are quitting as fast as they are hired, because the job isn't pleasing. A police officer called in from a department, already suffering from record resignations and retirements due to the backlash against all police for the horrid behavior of some. She stated that candidates are dropping out of the police academy in record numbers - the most recent class starting with 13 and graduating 3, because they said it was too hard - in some cases the government money when not working is paying more than their police salary.
It has me seriously pondering whether my attempts to provide a good life and childhood for our children have set them up to persevere in their job when the going gets tough. Has my balance between helping them thrive in various opportunities focused on them too much or just enough for them to succeed? Have they had to live with unhappiness, struggling through failures to achieve meaningful goals? We see our oldest thriving now, but he's always been a hard worker when he had his goal in mind.
The other two are less tolerant of difficulties, but when the prize is sufficiently appealing, they are all in for the long haul. I'm praying we make good decisions so that they have as good a work ethic as their brother, willingness to endure lesser appealing tasks for the sake of long-term benefits for which they'll be proud. It makes me ponder my approach to work for God.
God did not create us for the sake of work,
but created work for our sake.
We gain dignity in accomplishing -
making us more like God Who creates and acts.
When do I pull back from persevering in suffering when God wants me to continue working? It can be a fine line, discerning when it is time to stick with it and when it is time to move forward elsewhere. One point is to persevere in something, not to seek nothing. An older relative is an inspiration here. When she couldn't physically help, she was a prayer warrior. When she had to give up living alone, instead of complaining about her new community arrangement, she tried to make it more friendly for all who lived there. It was no surprise when she mentioned seeing Mary and Jesus at her bedside one night, she was with them the next morning.
So what should I do with this? For my children's sake, I need to make sure we teach them the value of hard work, perseverance in unpleasantness, and that are made to do, not just to be and not just to be served - and definitely NOT just to be pleasured! Sorry - a huge personal pet peeve with today's entertainment media and their pervasive support for physical pleasure as the highest goal in life - with anyone, everyone, and even anything. No commitments - or only fleeting ones. Virginity past even junior high is presented as unusual and only the most socially outcast retain it past high school. And this message begins in cartoons. PLEASE take this warning seriously parents! People need to know their higher purpose and that only long-term TRUE commitment gets us there.
For my own sake, I need to discern when I seek soul-benefiting rest or when my "rest" is only an escape from a challenge or an attempt to find fulfillment in way to which God is not calling me. For my children and myself, the selfish avoidance of productive inconvenience begins a one-way trip away from God, that can last forever.
Hug your children tight, remind them of their importance in God's Plan, that He counts on their participation, and how every little thing they do right is another brick in His Kingdom Wall that only they are assigned to complete. How big and solid will all of our walls be? And how joyful will be God for our joining in the Work He created for all of us! May God bless you and your family abundantly!
- Linda Bader, CRE St.Thomas More
P.S. Did you know.... St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) was born into a Jewish family in Poland, lost her father as a toddler, and without embracing a faith, became a radical feminist suffragist as a young adult. She achieved a doctorate related to philosophy and women's issues, from a secular perspective, in Germany, but assisted as a nurse during the first World War. Observing people who lived their faith, she studied and embraced Christianity, then Catholicism. Active in her faith and scholarship, she became a Carmelite nun, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, while continuing to write for philosophy and God's view of women's issues. When Nazis burned synagogues, her prioress smuggled her to the Netherlands, but after Dutch Catholic bishops protested the treatment of Jews, Nazis invaded their communities, arresting any suspect Jews, including Sister Benedicta. Having already embraced the reality, power, and peace of the cross, she accepted the path God permitted and died at Auschwitz. She is a model of authentic, sincere, and complete commitment to her faith, paired with absolute trust in God's love and eternal providence.
