A Long-Overdue Update...

It has been a while since I gave you all an update on our family, and since it seems that this is the preferred time of year for such compositions, here goes...

As many of you know, we have followed the Lord’s calling to a surprising new “mission.”  The difference is that this time, our mission post is on home soil (at least for the moment), among many of you who have supported us and prayed for us throughout our years in the foreign field.  While we did not seek out this particular assignment, God continues to show us, in no uncertain terms, that this is His plan, that we remain in the center of His will, and that He will continue to uphold us and provide all our needs.  In the meantime, we are enjoying the opportunity to nourish old relationships, while cultivating new ones as well.  

Kevin’s diligence and devotion as Youth Minister/Confirmation Coordinator has borne much fruit among the youth of our parish.  His youthful and adventurous spirit pairs well with his fatherly nature and zeal for the Faith.  God really knew what He was doing when He challenged Kevin with this calling, for while the teens are being blessed by Kevin’s work, Kevin is, in turn, being grown and stretched and formed in new and wonderful ways.  My husband is a good and holy man, and I love to watch the Lord work with him and in him!

For my part, I am blessed to be at home with my quiver of arrows, teaching them, forming them, and enjoying their amazingly different gifts and personalities!  God provided for us to become a part of a wonderful homeschool academy in the area.  The children meet two full days a week, and take phenomenal classes among faithful Christians of the same heart and mind.  This has been our kids’ first experience of a “school” setting in the United States, and they are really enjoying both their new friendships, and their interesting courses.  I (Andrea) am also involved, teaching high school Latin at the academy.  Additionally, we are truly blessed by our homeschool group at the parish, that has become a wonderful source of community, prayer, and support.

Despite our efforts to slow these precious years down, our children continue to grow like weeds!  It is hard to believe that our oldest is now 10!  She, along with the 6, 3, and 1-year-old children, are enjoying time near grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.  It is beautiful to see their individual relationships with the Lord maturing and deepening gradually as the days go by.  Our Heavenly Father loves these dear souls even more than we can hope to imagine, and He is busy about filling up His littlest missionaries with many graces and blessings.  Our house is always bustling, noisy, and maybe just a little bit crazy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Our children are a life-giving blessing to us, and our hearts are very full!  

In fact… both our house and are hearts are about to become even fuller!  That’s right!  We are waiting joyfully for our newest arrival in June!  After many heartaches due to miscarriage, we are so excited that God has answered our prayers yet again!  Please continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and birth.  We just can’t wait to meet this new little person!!  

Well, that just about covers the nutshell-version of what has been going on with the Brown family missionaries, except to say that we dearly miss our missionary family at Family Missions Company (www.fmcmissions.com).  However, we stay as involved as possible, and hope that God will give us a chance to be among them again soon.  Whatever His plan may be, we know it is better than good... it is the BEST!  

Know of our prayers for all our readers and supporters.  May you be richly blessed as you prepare for the birth of Christ, our Light!  Check back soon for spiritual reflections and news from your missionary friends, the Browns.

To Be “Neighbor”

I just wanted to briefly share an insight that the Lord allowed me this past Sunday.  I was at Mass, hearing the story of the Good Samaritan for the umpteenth time in my life.  Only this time, I heard something I had not noticed before...  

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?

How do you read it?”

He said in reply,

“You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your being,

with all your strength,

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.”

He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;

do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,

“And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29)

Jesus goes on to tell the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan.  

THEN, Jesus ends by asking the scholar of the law, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

Interesting!  The scholar had actually asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  In other words, “Toward whom do I have to be loving?”  The scholar sees the neighbor as the recipient of his love.  Yet, in the parable, the robbers’ victim, the one who RECEIVES is not the one Jesus refers to as “neighbor.”  Jesus asks who was neighbor TO the robbers’ victim.  To Jesus, the “neighbor” is the subject of love - not the object.  He is the one from whom the acts of love originate.  To Jesus, the Samaritan is “neighbor.”

In His infinite wisdom, Jesus turned the question around to emphasize that the key here is not defining who we opt to spend our love on.  The idea is not to clarify or limit the circumstances in which we are expected to love.  Rather than identifying the persons deserving of my love, if I am the one who is called to “be neighbor,” the focus becomes more interior.  I don’t need to worry about who my neighbor is - I need to originate love myself.  

Doesn’t this make so much more sense for us, who want to be like Jesus?  Did He look for the “right” people to love, or did He just LOVE?  According to the scholars of the law, Jesus loved all the “wrong” kinds of people.  Lucky for me, that’s the kind of God we have!

The scholar of the law, who was accustomed to delineating what was right and wrong according to the “letter of the law,”  was no doubt looking for a black and white answer here.  But he got a deeper, soul-searching, kind of question from Jesus instead.  

WE got a soul-searching kind of question from Jesus, too.