Sacrificed on the altar of success

By Melanie Jean Juneau

 

14th century depiction of the Holy family and the Presentation

Have you  sacrificed all on the altar of success?

Since preschool, society has pushed you to excel, to rise above your peers.  You were groomed for success, to get into the best universities and snatch the most prized careers. Well, it is nice to have confidence, to fulfill your dreams, and have a sense of satisfaction in your chosen field of work but that will not make you happy. Just take a look at the generations that have gone before you.  The all too common mid-life crisis is a testament to the failure of a life focused on career advancement to the exclusion of family. Men and women bemoan the fact that they did not have time for nurturing and loving their spouse or children.

All too often, family life crumbles to ashes, sacrificed on the altar of success.

As for childcare, society relegates this arrangement to women who are often treated as second class citizens. I want to yell out as loudly as I can that raising children is definitely not a default chore for women who were not successful in the world of business, power and wealth. Exactly how you, the next generation, love and form your children will directly influence the kind of society that they in turn create.

Continue reading at Melanie's blog  Joy of Nine9.

How can you grow in generosity this season?

By Elizabeth Tichvon 

Still Life with Female Figure by Campodoglio (Wikimedia Commons).

"...Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.  He said to the host who invited him, 'When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.  Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous'”  (Luke 14:12-14).

Jesus calls us to invite the needy to our banquet table. His message doesn't discourage us from welcoming friends, family and wealthy neighbors, but asks that we bear in mind our intentions. It's against human nature to give lavishly without looking for repayment. But Jesus insists that we give without expectations. How do we do that?
 
Perhaps we can start by practicing generosity toward those with no means of reciprocation. Consider the young lady in prison without loved ones to send money for an occasional luxury such as a soda or bag of chips. The retired nun on a small income, standing in the grocery checkout line. The father of nine, longing to take all of his children to a ballgame, but can't afford one ticket. The poor beggar with nothing but her clothes and unassuming nature. We may find it's easier to give without the prospect of receiving, when we give to such persons.

Continue reading at Elizabeth's blog  click-elizabeth.

How to get rich and save your soul

By Anabelle Hazard

Yellow Sweater by Howard Russell Butler (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

Before you read my crash-course on becoming rich, you should know that I dangled perilously on the curved tip of a C in college accounting and that my husband managed our finances after he noticed that I couldn’t balance our checkbook.   So my post is actually about saving up for your $oul's eternity and getting rich in the process.

Still with me?  Good. I should also now admit to you that the decision to write for free was borne during of a time of financial constraints for my family.  Now, my husband used to be self-employed in Las Vegas, back when the housing market was thriving and his skill was in demand for model homes and by interior designers.  When we moved to the country, he worked full time for the Benedictine Abby and his business was relegated to the occasional side.  >Since we’d both discerned God called us to invest my time in homeschooling, I didn’t think we’d ever go on our precious vacations again, a perk we enjoyed while working in the big city.

Briefly, I toyed with the idea of writing secular or Christianized novels for a broader market and publisher appeal, (because two very Orthodox Catholic novels by some unknown author making it to the New York Times bestseller list is not going to happen in my lifetime).  But the obstinacy to reject watering down what I know to be truth about the Eucharist and Our Lady was fierce.  So with foolhardy faith and trust in God’s provision, I took a deep breath and.... gave my novels away.

Continue reading at Anabelle's blog Written By the Finger of God.