On Mission Without My Family

For the next 9 days I'll be traveling to the exotic Caribbean island of Haiti with 34 friends, no wife, no kids. This is a dream come true right? What man doesn't desire 9 days without His wife and three kids aged 3 and under while he hangs out with his friends on the beach in perfect 85 degree weather. Man, it's going to be amazing!

Ok, enough sarcasm. The fact is that it’s more fun traveling through busy airports with my wife and three kids than to be separated from them for over a week. Though not the ideal scenario, in this particular situation I do have to travel alone because our newborn has no passport yet. I am often asked why I would take my wife and young children and bring them to a developing country. People try to tell me that it's not fair, that I’m depriving my kids from all that America has to offer and placing them in danger of getting sick, not having proper education and even death (all things that happen in every country around the world). 

From the day of my baptism (November 8, 1986) the Lord called me to be a member of his Church and a missionary disciple and that call did not change when I got married and had kids. In fact that call got even stronger and became more clear once I found my vocation. It is in that same truth that my wife and I have chosen to baptize our kids. So why bring my family on mission? The Lord invites us all to go and He's sent us all from the moment of our baptism. 

My family is my primary mission community and as husband, father, and head of the household it would be safe to say that I am the "mission director.” Together with my wife, “co-director," we pray and give our mission community to the Lord and surrender it to His will. I love my community and I hate being separated from them. In fact, things become a lot more difficult without my mission community. As I prepare for these next 9 days I'm not screaming “freedom” but rather “Oh, crap.”

Sitting before the Blessed Sacrament this morning, the Lord gently reminded me that my small mission community (my family) is plugged in and rooted to an even bigger community, the Universal Church. The Lord invites me to find peace of heart, rest, and comfort in my larger community as my small community sends me out on mission.

"Here I am Lord."


Paul 

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