Living Catholicism

1. The Practical Perspective - A large family is practical in that, by design, it is self-supporting. The large family that I was blest to be a part of operated as a team. As I've said before, I was the oldest of six, and my mother relied heavily on my help. Some days I would be busy doing chores, other days I was babysitting my younger brothers so Mom could do laundry, other days I was helping them with homework. We worked as a unit. Yes, there were fights and arguments, there were times when I didn't want to help, but overall we all got along and worked together. We could clean an entire house and mow the lawn in under 2 hours on a Saturday! Talk about efficient! This teamwork allowed Mom and Dad time for each other and for us.

2. The Social Perspective - A large family is forced to develop socially. A single child can choose not to get along with others because they aren't forced to live with anyone, they can pick and choose their friends at will. In a large family you are stuck with them. When Mom found out she was pregnant with "Number 5" one of my brothers had to move into my room. We learned to be unselfish and to share. We had to negotiate, compromise, and, most importantly, to love one another for who we were. We couldn't have all the material things some of our friends had, so we had to use our imaginations. We would built forts out of logs and scrap wood, make rifles and swords out of sticks, costumes out of old furniture covers and sheets, and drums out of buckets. We were a creative bunch. As we've grown older all of us are confident in who we were, we have had no trouble making other friends, and we have remained extremely close with one another.

3. The Spiritual Perspective - This perspective is, first and foremost, formed by parents living out God's will in their lives. The love that radiated between my parents and their complete gift of self shaped our family's spiritual life. We knew we were loved. My parents made it clear to us that God was first in our family's life. They also taught us why it was important that we were Catholic. I remember many Sunday dinners when we would discuss different teachings of the Church or a particular passage from Scripture. We also prayed together. My mother, to this day, tells us that Mother Teresa once said, "The family that prays together, stays together." This statement summarizes, in a nutshell, my family's spiritual life. Being a large family we lived in "communion" with one another, we understood that each of us was a gift from God, willed into existence by God. Through the life of prayer and Catholic instruction we grew spiritually as a family, all knowing that God put us here for a reason....there were not "accidents" in our home.

4. The Eternal Perspective - After we die there are two places where we shall ultimately end up; heaven or hell. In this life we are called to know, love, and serve God. It is in doing this that we decide our eternity. Those parents who are unwilling to live their lives in accordance with God's plan seriously hinder their spiritual growth and, ultimately, risk losing eternal life. God's law is clear, the teaching of the Church has remained constant down through the ages. So those families who are open to life live a life that is pleasing to God. The other eternal advantage of a large family is that it allows God's will to be fulfilled in the course of salvation history. Each child is willed by God and is part of God's plan. It is He who wills them into existence, it is He who wants them here. Each person has some role to play in God's eternal plan. Those couples that refuse to be obedient to God's law of procreation prevent God's plan from reaching it's perfect fulfillment. They decide that that they know better than God how many children should be brought forth into this world. Maybe their child would have one day been an influential bishop or the doctor who would have found the cure to cancer... They will never know because they were not open to God's Will.

In the end, the large Catholic family is absolutely necessary in a world that is becoming more and more egocentric and materialistic. It is a contradicting sign in a time when we are told to take care of "Number 1" first. Large families will change the world, for they are the manifestation of "real, sacrificial" love.

May the Holy Family continue to bless and guide you and your family.