Working Together and Everyday Practical Grace
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November 1, 2022Every now and then, I come upon a term or phrase that sticks. For people like me, whose minds are always jumping from one thing to the next, simple yet profound words, phrases, passages that “register” are what keep us from floating out into the stratosphere.
Grounding words and thoughts are what I found in much of Bishop Daniel Flores (Brownsville, TX) opening keynote address at the National Association of Catholic Family Life Minister’s Conference (October 18-20) in San Antonio, TX.
While one must be prepared to get a healthy dose of highfalutin “churchy” terms at ministry conferences, I appreciate Bishop Flores ability to speak plainly, even about a complicated process our Church is undergoing. A process that while seeking to reach average people, has a highly clerical title; the Worldwide Synod on Synodality, and a similarly nebulous goal for a 3 year exercise.
Bishop Flores, for his part, centered his remarks on the three key themes of the initiative, Communion, Participation and Mission, with some of his comments echoing Points of Reflection for a Synodal Journey with Families, a document produced by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life at the Vatican, an office in the Holy See. According to the document…
“Communion in the Church finds an eloquent expression in the unity of the family. Families are living icons of the Trinity, in which the communion of the Church finds its deep roots: ‘The triune God is a communion of love and the family is its living reflection”, reads the document. Points of Reflection goes on to identify the family as a vital and necessary source for the Church into “new ways of living communion, participation and mission,” and family as an active subject and not object of ministry in the Church.
Bishop Flores talked about how the specific mission of each family is to pour God's love into the world. “Family is supposed to show a part of the face of Jesus to the world," Bishop Flores noted. “We are broken in ways we just can’t fix. That’s why we need Christ,” he said.
The bishop spent some time talking about what’s at the core of a human family’s ability to manifest Jesus into the world, grace. Without grace, we can’t do anything. “Practical grace” serves as an everyday unifying force in the family, in the Church and the community.
“Grace is what holds things together,” commented Bishop Flores. “It’s not about yet another program,” he continued.
And there is the gem. The work of married couples, and those who serve them is to develop the virtues and consistent prayer life that makes it possible for us to live an everyday practical grace that helps us manifest the love of Jesus to our family members and to every person whom we encounter.
As far as the rest of the conference, it also featured numerous exhibitors (one of which was Stella Maris Center), author and speaker Kathryn Whitacre who talked about the challenges of childrearing and everyday holiness and Bill Donaghy of the Theology of the Body Institute, who shared about the important role of St. John Paul II’s teaching on the anthropology of the human person aka The Theology of the Body, in the Church’s continued efforts to defend and promote marriage.
A key takeaway from the event, and something in magnificent display during the conference is the importance and need for a truly collaborative spirit in marriage and family ministry. Working together and tapping into the many beautiful gifts our Lord has given to people to build up the Domestic Church, is the key to saving marriage and the family from transgressive ideologies that seek to destroy it. Working together for our Lord and our brothers and sisters, to strengthen marriage and family with an everyday practical grace.
