Family Matters

You've written before about how our family is our first apostolate. As a home-schooling mom, I think I know what you mean, as my home truly is my workplace as well as the place I live out my vocation most noticeably. But could you expound on the concept of family as apostolate?

It's quite simple, really. Parenting is not a right granted us by the state. It's a privilege given to us as a gift from God. By extension, that means it's not just a civic duty but also a moral obligation. No one but we can parent our kids and, if we don't evangelize and catechize them, we are putting them — and ourselves — at great risk. There's a very clear example of this in the Old Testament.

God spent a lot of time recruiting and motivating a skeptical Moses to be the one to free the Israelites. Then God discovered Moses had neglected his paternal responsibility by not circumcising his young son. This was part of the covenant and God did not take lightly Moses' neglect of the divine command given to the Jews through Abraham. For this neglect God was about to kill Moses. At the last minute in stepped Moses' wife, Zipporah, to do the deed and save the day (Exodus 4:24-25).

This episode clearly demonstrates that no matter how important our work or even our Church-related activities, we are never excused from first seeing to the welfare of our kids and family. At least, not in God's eyes.

Okay. So our family is our first apostolate. Is it our only apostolate? Jesus didn't tell us to just preach the Good News to our family members. He clearly said: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). But doesn't he know how busy I am? Doesn't he realize that I'm already in trouble for not doing enough for my family?

With trust in God, all things are possible. Remember the portrayal of Simon of Cyrene in The Passion of the Christ? He was the innocent bystander who happened along the Via Dolorosa just as Jesus began to fail under the weight of the cross. When the Roman guards spotted him, they pressed him into service.

Did you notice Simon had his young son with him? He had to leave the child behind in order to comply with the guards' orders. He only did so reluctantly. But, along the way, Simon was transformed by his close contact with the Suffering Servant of God. By the time they reached the summit of Golgotha, he had found strength he probably never knew he had. He even risked earning a beating of his own by demanding the soldiers stop flogging Jesus.

Can you imagine the catechesis Simon's son must have gotten after being reunited with his father? The two probably talked about that day — and learned about redemptive suffering from it — the rest of their lives. (In fact, Scriptural clues point to Simon's two sons, Alexander and Rufus, possibly becoming leading members of the fledgling Christian community. See Mark 15:21 and Romans 16:13.)

Just so, God wants us to help our families grow in faith, hope and love. In this way he will grow the universal Church so that, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The Holy Spirit is ever ready to borrow our minds, hearts and bodies as we happen upon the Via Dolorosa every day in many ways. Are we prepared to follow the example of Simon of Cyrene? If so, our family is well on its way to functioning as a true apostolate — and our world is that much more pleasing to Christ because of it.

Art Bennett is director of Alpha Omega Clinic and Consultation Services in Vienna, Virginia, and Bethesda, Maryland.