Thank you for the reminder, Laura! A message sent to me from the Holy Spirit through you. Beautiful! I will pray for you and your husband. Have a blessed Easter!

I totally understand where you are coming from. I was raised in an atheist family and married into a fallen away Catholic family. For 34 years, my husband and I were the only people in the family to attend mass, except for my sister in law whose husband’s brother is a priest. Now, my husband quit going to mass too, for the past six months. I try to be gentle in asking him to come to mass with me, because I don’t want to come across as controlling … but it breaks my heart too. I’ve felt like the Lone Ranger in our Catholic faith most of my life. We are supposed to attract others to Christ by how we live our lives, but how do you do that if you were never taught this yourself? I refuse to quit believing in Jesus Christ (and serving Him by serving others though, including my own family.) I pray for my husband and family and hope that my perseverance in faith will set a good example for the long term. I hope you never give up praying for those you love!

And then I went to visit some relatives who were baptized and raised Catholic, and have abandoned the faith. What a letdown! My spiritual balloon burst, as I was dragged down into the secular unimportance of their world. For them, Easter means an Easter egg hunt and treats from the Easter Bunny for the kids. Nothing wrong with that, but when that is all there is… so disheartening.

My husband, also born and raised Catholic, also having abandoned the faith and a self-declared atheist, was no help. It’s very difficult to go to Mass, receive the Lord in the Eucharist, and receive a spiritual boost every week (but especially over the course of the Easter Triduum), and then come home to someone for whom it’s all just another day. Joy grows when it’s shared.

I need the help of the Holy Spirit to not get depressed in the midst of such secular preoccupations that burst my spiritual bubble. Please help me, Lord Jesus!

Getting someone to “listen” is hard, getting someone to “do”, as you described in the first paragraph of your reflection, is dang near impossible. Change is difficult especially if one has a hard time finding a reason to change. If things are good, why change? So I understand what you are getting at with your reflection, the vast majority of us will go back to our old routines and forget about Easter…until next year.

Your example lead me to think of a quote from Sophocles: “Man learns by suffering.” We tend to forget about God when times are good, but when times are bad or a tragedy strikes, all of the sudden He becomes the main focus in our lives…until times become good again.

So, what are we to do in good times so we don’t stray? From Matthew Kelly: Daily prayer, study, generosity and evangelization. Personally I think God would be happy if we just did one.

Mark