Aim Above Morality

Soon after I learned to read I devoured the classics.  The Secret Garden and A Little Princess are some of my favorite childhood novels.  My soul found solace in period works.  Stories set in a time where morality was protected, valued and practiced by the majority fascinated me.  Tales expressing the value of community and of family overwhelmed my book list.  Those works saw life from the perception that I was brought up with.  I was born into a traditional, patriarchal family and my mom raised me in a manner that was no longer the norm of American society.  While my mom instilled high family values and love of God- I realized that most of my friends came from broken families and they had this “once I reach the legal age I will be emancipated from my family” mentality.  For a long time I felt like I was living in the wrong time period one too modern for my old soul…  As I grew up and education became my god I became more tolerant and accepting of the new world of individualism and relativism.  Yet, deep in the core of my being I held onto the person my mother carved early in my life- no matter how hard I tried to modernize - the classic female persona in me refused to die.  During some of the more liberal periods of my life- my high moral self, laid dormant. In hibernation I suppressed these antiquated values- and filled myself with modern philosophy. 

It wasn’t until I started participating in a church community that I realized that the values my mother passed on to me were more than just old human norms – they were Christian values.  As I opened myself to the will of God and started to accept and awake the high morality that my mother passed onto me I found self-acceptance and freedom.  God began to build onto that foundation and the more I studied Christian spirituality the more clear my life became.  I found purpose, direction and a ton of peace… Our young people are under attack- especially those who have a public education.  In schools they are learning values and teachings that go against our religion and if at home we are not doing our part to teach them the beauty of traditional values and Christian spirituality we are going to continue losing them… While I participated in the teen ministry- I realized that a lot of these kids no longer are getting spiritual nourishment at home.  They believe the philosophy that is being presented in their schools and by the time we get them at church the great majority have formed powerful notions about God and have reduced Him to a weak magician in a fairytale…  Am happy that at my parish we have a thriving teen ministry and leaders that really are devoted to leading kids towards an encounter with Christ.  Let’s join in prayer and in action to work for the Kingdom of God and to lead by example.  Let our actions speak the Truth and let our lives be testimonies of a living Christ- show a happy Jesus that revels in goodness and high morality. Let’s begin by practicing what we preach or as Saint Francis famously said, “Preach the gospel at all times, when necessary use words.”  The solution begins by evangelizing ourselves first...