“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own; the reason it hates you is that you do not belong to the world.”
John 15:16
As parents, my husband and I are always giving advice — sometimes requested but more often not. In some ways we still have a great influence over our teenagers, but there is a part of their lives that is much more impacted by their friends, peers and the world around them. The one thing we know so deeply as they approach adulthood, is how very much we love them.
This weekend we are celebrating as our oldest child graduates from high school. As I see her so ready to move beyond the family circle, I worry. Maybe we have forgotten to impart some critical piece of life knowledge. Will she go off to college next year and remember what we have said about peer pressure, gossip and treating people with respect?
Today’s gospel is a wonderful distillation of Jesus’ teachings for us and a timeless message that echoes what many parents want to say to their children. In it, Jesus sets up the challenge we face in following the gospel message: if we accept the world’s values, we may be quite popular and loved by the world but we would be turning our backs on the message Jesus came to bring us. If we have the courage to reject some of the shallow things the world values, we will be embracing the life of Jesus.
I know that my daughter has learned about the world and its values from my own imperfectly-lived life. I know my own struggles with wanting to be loved by everyone, pleasing people and often lacking the courage to stand up for my convictions, will be mirrored in some of the ways she chooses to live her life.
But the saving grace in the way both of us will do this so imperfectly is trusting, knowing well that God understands how flawed we are and loves us deeply and immeasurably in our stumbling way of living. “I chose you out of the world,” Jesus tells us today. Jesus calls each one of us “out of the world” to live in his footsteps, choosing us, calling us by name and holding us close with his gentle loving care.
Now I turn my daughter out into the world and into that gentle, loving care of Jesus. Please, dear Katy, know how much I love you. Know how much Jesus loves us both. May this knowledge help you not love the world too much.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
