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MAY 15, 2008
Leaven help us
How the family inspires hope for the Church
If you are one of those people convinced that contemporary American families are turning out a generation to whom the idea of hard work is as far afield from their daily fare as Latin lessons, then you haven’t met the Usher boys.
I’ll admit when I received notice that the oldest three of the eight Usher children were looking for a way to make some money to attend a Catholic boys’ camp this summer, I was feeling both generous and pessimistic. But because I believe in helping kids earn money for such things, I told their mom they could pull our weeds and mow our lawn for what I thought was a generous amount of money, even, I thought, if they did only a half-decent job.
Three and a half hours after their arrival, as the boys continued to slave away leaving no weed unpulled, no blade of grass too long, and not one of our outdoor toys strewn about, I began to panic. Their attention to detail and work ethic were deserving of far more than I had originally contracted with their mother, and yet, I didn’t have enough to pay them more.
I called a mutual friend who was of little help. She explained to me that what I was witnessing was “just the Usher family,” and went on to illustrate other occasions where they had done similar things, like unpack the moving truck of a new family in the area and refuse to take any money for it. I soon understood that were it not for their summer camp goal, these boys would have chalked up those hours in the unforgiving sun over my yard to charity. They just seemed to appreciate the opportunity to serve.
What also interested me was that the boys’ father was as hard at work on our lawn as they were. Of course he was their ride, the boys being too young to drive, but he did not act as a foreman. Rather, he was a firsthand teacher of servanthood. In essence, he was a model of Jesus’ earthly father. Though I have never met St. Joseph, I have an idea that Jesus’ attention to detail and work ethic were things He learned from His carpenter father.
Domestic Church
My children pressed their faces up against the window in awe of the whole thing: four young boys (another son had come along just to help out) and their father working, without breaks, to make our yard look like the cover of a home and garden magazine.
It was more than my 6-year-old could take. She filled our finest glass pitcher with ice water and slices of citrus, and asked if she could serve them. When her emptied pitcher didn’t seem like enough, she and her brother created small works of art as thank you’s for this family who had labored harder than my kids could imagine trying to themselves. After they left, my daughter asked me if their oldest was going to be a priest.
And thus the lesson of “the domestic church,” the family, and its role in salvation was complete. And my lawn was stunning. Through this exchange between two families, we witnessed firsthand that when actions are rooted in love, they do not end in themselves, but are life-giving. In this way the family is leaven to a world in need of hope.
And so, to anyone who may feel uncertain of the Church’s future, I give you the reason for my hope, evidence of what John Paul II called “a new springtime of Christianity”: it’s families like the Ushers.
Those who serve in love are witnesses of the faith. Their charity bears fruit, leading others to the source of their joy which is Christ. In short, as Pope Benedict said on his recent visit, such families “point the way toward that vast horizon of hope that God is even now opening up to His Church, and indeed to all humanity: the vision of a world reconciled and renewed in Christ Jesus, our Savior.”
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