We Are Not Uncertain
“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Your Work Matters
Catholic women who are unafraid to demonstrate their faith in public are influencers.
You are a leader, managing your family, your personal life, your work life and career, and your relationships. Your faith is central in your life and inspires every decision you make. You are important to the restoration of our world at this moment in history, because you are integrally involved in so many levels of society. You have committed yourself to making a significant impact on our world.
The Era of Uncertainty?
Our Catholic Christian faith began with Jesus and His mission. This mission, the Kingdom of God, formulated the central message He repeated all throughout His ministry: God loves us, and He is here for us. The first 300 years of Christianity was known as the Apostolic Era and was rife with persecution, martyrdom, and profound courage. A movie I used to show my Catholic high school religion students stated, “The blood of the martyrs was the seed of Christianity.”
The Christendom Era followed the Apostolic Era, spanned 1,700 years, and shaped the history of our Church that has molded our lives. This era traversed the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the turbulent 20th century. Following the Second World War, we entered a new era, which has yet to be officially named. Some are suggesting an appropriate name is the Era of Uncertainty.
As Catholic women, we know this title can never and will never describe our lives. We are not uncertain. We know our values. We do our best to lead a virtuous life. We understand the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments, and we do all we can to live our life according to the precepts of our faith, which provide us with a guide and a purpose. There is no uncertainty in that.
Holy Examples
Our love of Mary helps us honor her for her implausible courage to become the Mother of our Lord—which meant she could have been stoned to death, her family could have been disgraced, and any future life she had hoped for with her betrothed, Joseph, could have been shredded. Her courage to stand firmly in God’s faithfulness and believe in His love for her is a model for us. When we have fears and doubts, which of course we do, we have Mary to turn to as our helper and strengthener. She understands our life, because as a woman, she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Jesus lived with conviction and commitment to the task He undertook in His earthly life. He came as a baby and experienced our humanity in every way. Following His Baptism in the Jordan River, He began to travel and teach, bringing with Him 12 apostles and many disciples, including both men and women. He spoke with authority, forgave sins, and healed illnesses, causing the Pharisees and Sadducees to wonder where His power and wisdom came from. They could only teach what they had memorized. Jesus spoke from His own authority, challenged the hierarchy of the Jewish faith tradition of His time. Jesus was not uncertain.
The over 3,000 Catholic saints, who willingly and courageously offered their lives for their belief in the healing power of Jesus, stepped into the chaotic events of their particular time in human history. They spoke on behalf of their faith, encouraging everyone listening to follow Jesus’ mission in their own life. They wrote, and their writings circulated throughout the world in which they lived, influencing vast groups of people to devote their lives to the Catholic Christian faith. Many of them died for what they believed rather than compromise their belief in the Risen Christ. The saints were not uncertain.
Our Mission
In our day and age, we are faced with many incidents and messages that expect us to acquiesce and comply with values and belief systems we can never support. We cannot align ourselves with the untruths and misleading messages purported by groups from all sides to abandon our message and our mission. We will not and we cannot. We must stand firm in what we believe, because this is our mission as Catholic women in business today.
As Father John Riccardo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, reminds us in his book Rescued: The Unexpected and Extraordinary News of the Gospel, a person does not become a Christian by use of reason alone. We don’t “think our way into faith.” The early Church grew during the Apostolic Era because people of that time were impacted by the witness of genuinely Christian lives—lives that were radically different and led to profound changes in the culture. It was said of the early Christians, “These people are turning the world upside down!”
They transformed the world around them, which is what we must do today. For us, this is no Era of Uncertainty. We are certain that Jesus was raised and that He lives in us and impacts the culture through us. We must respond as courageously as the early Church responded and impact our culture through the grace of God.
We are not uncertain.
Kate Walsh-Soucheray, Ed.D., M.A. Theology, M.A. Marriage and Family Therapy, LMFT, Emeritus, is a wife of 42 years, a mother of three adult, married children, and grandmother of six beautiful, active grandchildren. She is a former Catholic high school Religion teacher and a former Christian Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Dr. Walsh-Soucheray writes a monthly column for the Catholic Spirit, the Archdiocesan newspaper of Minneapolis and St. Paul, called Simple Holiness. She is now retired and writes and speaks for Catholic women’s groups, Cana Dinners, and leads retreats for Catholic groups about integrating holiness into our everyday lives. Find her daily reflection and encouragement for Catholic women on LinkedIn.