March 29th, Monday of Holy Week

Isaiah 42: 1-7, Psalm 27: 1, 2, 3, 13-14, John 12: 1-11

Today’s reading from Isaiah, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights” reminds us that God loves us dearly and is pleased with us. God calls on us to be images of Himself in our world. We have a mission to make the presence of God known to others beginning with those closest and dearest to us.

I feel we teach by example. My parents had a strong, humble faith which was passed on to my sister and me by their example. What was most important was how we lived our lives. They struggled through hard times, but their faith grew stronger. I remember Sunday afternoons when they would both sit in the kitchen and listen to the Polish Father Justin Holy Hour on the radio, when mom made her Tuesday novena to St. Anthony, and when they would kneel at bedside for night prayers.

As parents, we make the image of God real for our children on a daily basis. Early on, our priority has been to provide our children the opportunity to receive a Catholic education, just as our parents did for us. Our children attended St. Raymond, Sacred Heart of Mary and St. Viator. Now their children have graduated from or are currently attending St. Raymond and Catholic schools in Florida. Our grandchildren continue to reinforce their faith by being an altar server through high school, attending Mass weekly, belonging to Branches, and experiencing the teen mission trips.

Through the years our family has established lasting religious traditions: our holy water font at the front door (a gift from our son and grandson’s pilgrimage to Lourdes), our own Holy Thursday Seder, blessing Easter food baskets, our family May crowning of Mary, and breaking oplatki at Christmas. These family traditions have become very important and meaningful to our family. As our family has grown, so has the mission, and the challenges continue in our changing world.

In Isaiah, God speaks to each of us: “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you.” God is leading and guiding us to fulfill His mission and through His grace, the power to make it happen.

Join me in reflecting on this thought during Holy Week: “Live in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God, will come to know God because they know you.”

Ginny Neugebauer, married 48 years to Dan, mother of seven, grandmother of twelve.