The Catholic Sun Magazine

The family, the heart of evangelization, has been called the Domestic Church (“Lumen Gentium,” 11), the first place where we encounter God. It is within the family that we begin to learn who God is and how to prayerfully seek His will for our lives. It is the primary and perhaps singular place for many of us to evangelize and spread the message of God’s love. 

It all began with a startlingly frank question David Bates posed to a colleague at work one day. “What religion are you and what do you believe?” Not exactly your standard water-cooler conversation, but that’s when things got interesting. Neither one of them knew it then, but Joe Bashford’s answer would spur a two-year journey that would lead to deeper faith for both men — and their wives. “I told him I was Catholic,” Bashford said. “And then he goes, ‘Oh. So, you're not saved and you don't believe in Jesus.’   

When my husband, Richard, and I moved back to Phoenix from Los Angeles 24 years ago, we had a hard time finding a parish community that felt like home. For more than six months we visited at least eight parishes with our 1-year-old son in tow. Nothing felt right and we started to panic as we felt more unsettled and disconnected.    Finally, I made an appointment to meet with Mary Ann, the director of Religious Education at St. Paul’s, the parish closest to our house. I poured out my heart, my fear about our recent experiences and unloaded all the things that had not worked for us. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from her, but she was so kind. I could tell she cared for us and courageously challenged us to take responsibility to be an active part of the solution to our nomadic wandering from parish to parish.    

When you imagine Jesus knocking on the door of your heart, what do you experience? Maybe you’re immediately filled with anticipation, and you rush to the door to welcome your beloved friend. Maybe you feel a bit of hesitation, unsure if you can trust the person knocking who still feels a bit like a stranger. Or maybe you’re flooded with anxiety and fear, expecting the Lord to start banging on the door and demanding that you open up.  Whatever you feel, I encourage you to notice that and take it to prayer. 

Ana Luisa Martinez has always loved the Blessed Virgin Mary, but that love grew much deeper when she and her husband took their children on a seven-month pilgrimage. It wasn’t your ordinary pilgrimage.  With four sons ranging in age from 13 all the way down to the tender age of 14 months, it involved extensive preparation, planning and plenty of prayer.