My Ministry, August 21, 2017 Daily Reflection

The Loyola Ministry Program has taught me how to identify, understand, test and decide what ministry I have been called to in my life thus far. I aspire to be a Saint. Bishop Robert Barron exclaims, “We should each aspire to be a saint.” I want to draw as close to God as possible. Each Saint had a purpose in life, a mission given to her by God. She had a vision, heard a voice, or just knew from the depths of her soul that there was a mission to pursue. My mission came to me in 2005 after a retreat. In my mind I heard “If you see Jesus Christ today what would you say you did for the least of his people?” I tried to get the voice out of my head. It was at this point in my life that I was beginning the action part of my faith journey. I knew that I had to take action. I became a service coordinator for my children’s school, started to write a daily faith blog, created and led retreats, and became a motivational speaker. Not long into that part of the journey God placed in my heart another statement, “Your purpose is to move people closer to God, one word, one sentence, one speech, one retreat, one action at a time.” That has been my touchstone, my mission statement, my clarifying ministry. No matter which title I hold, what job position I complete, what I get paid for, or how I help others, that is my ministry. As a married woman for 20 years and a mom of four it is easy to forget my ministry in my hectic world of working full time, finishing a Master’s Degree program, writing a daily blog, taking my children to sports practices etc. My ministry is lived at home, on my knees each morning in prayer, getting my children ready for school, on the expressway driving to school, in the classroom, on the phone with service agencies in my community, in my interactions with my students and faculty and staff, in my communication with my Dad, in my responsibilities at home and in every time I hold the hands of each of my children at night and pray with them. My ministry cannot be compartmentalized, neither can God.