Confronting the Duties of our State
The world is full of tragedies. Christian churches are being torched daily in
Egypt, civilians were recently gassed in Syria, there are senseless killings
daily in the United States, and that’s barely scratching the surface.
These tragedies raise all sorts of issues and feelings among
people. Sometimes they can even make us
question the validity of our own pursuits and struggles. An example:
I am faced with the prospect of leaving my job in the
semi-near future and I have no idea what I will do then. The plans I had been pursuing seem to have
fallen apart. I also do not know what to
do about health insurance. Obamacare
will make insurance completely unaffordable, and many of my options will be
morally objectionable. I thought medical
sharing would be a solution, but my son’s medical condition precludes that as a
realistic option.
I have been taking these issues to prayer often, and they
have consumed much of my thoughts recently.
And yet, I remember, there are families in Syria whose dreams were wiped
away in an instant. Many people wonder
how they will feed their children; I certainly don’t have that worry. It definitely helps keep things in
perspective.
But it can have a negative effect, too. I can at times feel as though my concerns do
not warrant so much attention. It can
feel selfish of me to focus so much of my energy on these needs of my family
when so many others are facing so much worse.
But I believe that is the wrong approach to take. It is true I must remain grateful for the
blessings I have; I pray often for those suffering around the world, and try to
be generous with my time, treasure and talent.
But though it is good to keep things in perspective, the grave concerns
of others do not render my own insignificant.
My wife and family are my vocation. Providing for them is my responsibility. That is the charge that God has given me;
none is more pressing. I would be remiss
in my duties if I were to lessen the importance of the responsibilities of my
personal vocation out of some misplaced humility. I trust that God will provide, but He has
given me a definite work to do, and it begins with my family.
Very often people miss the blessings of what they have been
given by focusing on what they lack. I
think we can sometimes fall into the complementary trap of missing the
responsibilities we have because of the many troubles in the world we can not
fix.
We can forget the charity we are to extend to our neighbor
because of the plight of “the poor.” We
can fall into the trap of thinking that since people are suffering grievously
in the Middle East, God certainly can not be interested in our problems.
Suffering remains a mystery.
But we have to believe that God has the suffering refugees in His Hand
as much as He has us, and that, though we can not see it, He is providing the
grace they need to obtain His promises, remembering that Heaven is the greatest
promise.
We are called to alleviate the suffering of our brothers as
much as we are able, and we are also called to fulfill the duties of our state
in life. We are called to prayerfully
discern and live our vocation; nothing is more important.
Professor Peter Kreeft says that it is easy to love humanity,
but difficult to love our neighbor. The
same may be said about our vocation. It
is easy to care about the needs of the world’s suffering, but difficult to tend
to the needs of those God has put in our lives.
With His grace, may we do both.
