Giving Back Through Ministry
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about ways to immerse yourself in your faith. So far, I’ve talked about prayer, Mass, confession, and continuous learning. I focused on these first because of the importance of developing a relationship with God. Because we are all broken in some way, we cannot grow in our ability to love without his help. The previous posts described the various means of obtaining that help, getting to know God better, and growing in our love for God.
As Christians though, it can’t stop there. We are called not only to receive His love but also to give it away. That is the essence of ministry.
In general, the most important ministry we have is to our families. We all know people who have put things such as career or the accumulation of money in front of the needs of their families. That almost never ends well. But, if I look inside my own life, there have been countless times where I was “too busy” to stop what I was doing and take a moment to help out. Or, I was too focused on crossing things off of my list to even be aware of the problems someone in my family was having. Maybe you’ve had the same experience. That is why it is so important to have a strong prayer life. It allows us to step back each day and let God help us figure out what is truly important on our “to-do” lists. Then through the grace and guidance we receive in prayer and the sacraments, we can love more completely in our families.
Our second most important ministry is to the people who cross our paths every day. This could be everyone from our co-workers to our friends to the clerk at the grocery store or those we encounter in traffic. We are called to bring God’s love in every situation. Sometimes, that will involve being direct about your faith. Other times, it may just mean being kind, offering a smile, or immediately forgiving that guy who cuts you off in traffic. Prayer will again be needed to help discern how God wants us to act in a given situation. It is particularly important to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance especially when faced with an unexpected situation. You can do this on the fly when needed, and it can be as simple as a quick prayer such as “Come Holy Spirit.”
The final way to serve in ministry is the traditional means of participating in service through either a church group or a community organization. Our ability to do this will depend a great deal on our age and station in life. If you’re a student, you will have a lot of opportunities through your school or church. If you’re just out of school starting your career, newly married, or have a young family, your time may be too limited to participate in this form of ministry. That’s okay because there will likely be a point in the future where you can devote more of yourself to this. If you’re single, empty nesters, or retired, you may have much more opportunity to get involved. If, on the other hand, you’re debilitated by age or illness and cannot participate in this type of ministry, you should consider what you can do from home. Perhaps your ministry can be spending time each day praying for various causes and people throughout the world. This will have more impact on the world than any work you could do. You can also offer up your sufferings for these things. We know from Jesus’ cross and resurrection the immense good that God can do when we offer our sufferings to Him.
Ministry takes many forms. I think it’s important to remember that effective ministry flows from a love for God. You need a strong prayer and sacramental life to have the grace to persevere in ministry, and you need the wisdom and humility to know the role that God wants you to play.