This Way of Living Fills my Heart with Joy and Peace

Catherine Wakelyn

A 74yr old wife, mother and grandmother and a Kiwi.

I had a great upbringing in a big Catholic family. We had four very much-loved aunties who were nuns as well as many other relatives. It was my Mum and her mother who had a big influence on nourishing my faith.

My husband and I were married in 1970. He became a Catholic after the birth of our third child. We had five children.

We practiced our faith and did our best to give our family an understanding of how to live as Catholics, as Christians. It was not until we met the Focolare movement in 1989 that a real light came into our lives.

I knew love was very important but felt a failure so often.

In the Focolare movement we started to learn how to love, how to live the gospel. This transformed my life, our life, as a family.

Every failure can be a gift offered to God. Then to start again to love. Beginning again, over and over. This has been such a blessing.

Every moment during the day can be filled with love. Every person to be loved as Jesus loves. Even telephone calls: it's Jesus.

This way of living fills my heart with joy and peace.

But also, to recognise Jesus in every suffering, every failure.

To say to Him...I love you like this. In this difficulty it's You.

We keep in close contact with the Focolare sharing our lives as well as our gifts and goods.

I thank God so often for the gift of unity. That all may be one.

That is the ideal that Chiara Lubich began when she felt called to live the gospel during the war.

We share our experiences of loving as a gift to others.

Yesterday at Mass a new family with four children arrived after the children had gone out for their liturgy, so I showed them where to go to join the group.

I learnt that they are not Catholic, but the father had rung during the week. He wanted something specially for his children. I feel such a joy as my little act of love was actually very important. Without it they would have missed out on the very thing they came for.

Now I must pray for them.

So, life is such an adventure.

God is full of surprises.