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What Mothers CAN Do: The Simple Answer to Today's Attacks on the Family - by Mary Ellen Barrett

What Mothers CAN Do: The Simple Answer to Today’s Attacks on the Family

It’s been a rough summer for people of faith. We seem to be under attack on many fronts, especially by our own government whose very existence was founded on the principles of religious freedom that are now slipping away before our very eyes.

The news has caused a lot of faithful moms to ask themselves, “What should I be doing?” On Facebook many discussions have erupted into panicked requests for information about prepping for going underground, preparing for the day when our faith is outlawed and other apocalyptic scenarios.

It’s time to calm down and trust God.

As my very wise friend Bridget Galbraith put it, “Our job is to raise our children well, be steadfast in our marriages, and keep up on the laundry. There is NOTHING we can do about the rest of the world. Only pray.”

That’s just it; that’s what we can do. It’s both that simple and that complex, because while keeping out of the fray and tending to our own seems the easier course, it is the hardest thing we can do. But do it we must because it is what God intended for us, and He will provide.

So this is what we do.

We can educate our children well and send out the next generation of lawyers, doctors, electricians, police officers, plumbers, nurses, insurance agents, soldiers, teachers, moms and dads with an ardently pro-life worldview, and we can watch them change the world.

We can bind our children to their faith through daily prayers as a family, celebrating our Catholic heritage, frequent confession and daily Mass whenever possible.

We can keep Sunday sacred, make our faith, family and friends the center of the day, and rest in our Lord, taking comfort in the grace He sends.

We can evangelize simply by being joyful in our family life. No complaining or whining, rather joyfully making sacrifices and offering up our troubles for a troubled world.

We can love our husbands and work hard to create a home where they feel comforted and cherished. We can express our gratitude to them for their hard work on behalf of their family, and we can point to them as examples of heroic virtue.

We can take whatever ridicule or contempt we receive and offer prayers for those heaping it upon us. We can pray for their conversion and turn the other cheek, remembering, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

We can make our homes and families the light that cannot be extinguished, by staying true to our vocations as wives and mothers, by trusting God and by keeping up with the laundry.

About Mary Ellen Barrett

Mother of seven children and two in heaven, Mary is wife to David and a lifelong New Yorker. She has homeschooled her children for eleven years using Seton and an enormous amount of books. She is a columnist for The Long Island Catholic and blogs here . Meet Mary Ellen.
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