What are You Capable of? Finding Self in Service to Others

Jasmine Kuzner asks: when invited to serve our Church, is our first thought to safeguard our schedule, or to wonder if God is knocking?

Every year, usually in the fall when family life is insanely busy, our parish holds a retreat for 8th graders who are approaching Confirmation. For the retreat, the parish invites a team of ministers from an accredited Catholic program, consisting of eight to ten young people who have committed a year or two to evangelization and ministry. As missionaries, they need a place to stay for one to two evenings while they are visiting the host parish. Every year, trying to find one family—much less four or five—who will open their homes to host them is like pulling up tree trunks with very deep roots.

This is not to say that our parish isn’t a lively one. It is, like many active parishes, home to several young families and parishioners who are devoted daily and Sunday Mass goers. It is a parish rich with history and tradition. It is a parish teeming with individuals who seek to know and love Jesus Christ. Yet, like thousands of parishes world over, when it comes to the work of our church, the harvest is indeed much and the laborers are few. Often and usually, the same laborers have been going out and harvesting for years.

Service to others is our path to Christ. We know that our Lord came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for others. We know and can recite with feeling and sincerity that in giving our life, we will find it—yet when a call for help pops up in our inbox, why are we so quick to delete?

Exhaustion, of course, is one good answer. We cannot give to others what we genuinely do not have. We are careful, therefore, to monitor the silos of time and treasure. We do so in hopes of never letting them run empty. We hope to keep an endless supply of these items in stock with the assumption that in doing so, we will be ever ready to face the day in perfect accord and energy. Equilibrium then becomes what we believe in as the utmost of importance. A healthy balance is what we strive to maintain.

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Fear, likewise, is also an answer: one, perhaps, that we will only silently admit. The embarrassment of a volunteer job done poorly is much to carry, especially in front of the eyes of an observant community. Fear of not being able to keep up with one’s other duties while taking on a new task, keeps us from trying to do so in the first place. Fear of the inevitable, of regret, or maybe even just a boring or awkward time keeps us from spending it where we otherwise wouldn’t. Fear of not being enough. Fear, not of God, but of ourselves.

The balance of life’s busyness, especially as a parent and member of a parish, is a valid and very good thing to consider. However, I do wonder what effects come out of trying to preserve an idea of what our sense of equilibrium is at all costs. If we wrap our arms around “balance” and hold on as tightly as our arms will allow, are we able to open our hearts when an opportunity comes knocking at our door?

If we are worried most with prioritizing the equal splitting of the hours of the day, will we ever be able to know what it is to seize it? If we are too scared to never dare to let our resources dip beyond the midpoint, how will we ever know what we are capable of, what our true limits are? And, if we never allow the surfaces of these things to be scratched, what can be revealed of our faith in works, of our joy in Christ?

Click to tweet:
If we are worried most with prioritizing the equal splitting of the hours of the day, will we ever be able to know what it is to seize it? #catholicmom

We live in a busy time when one does indeed need to be mindful of what we say yes and no to. However, in trying to earnestly live a Christian life, we need to acknowledge what we are truly being mindful of. When approached with an opportunity to serve our Church, is our first thought to safeguard our schedule, or is it to wonder if God is knocking? If worried first and foremost about the neglect of our peace of mind, will we neglect the opportunity to unknowingly entertain angels?

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