Mrs Gallagher: the debate goes on

The letter that started the debate May I, through your letters page, make a plea for enlightenment? I lou does one in this materialistic age do what one is supposed to? Mother Teresa does it in her way, but how does a reasonably welloff mother of five children live as Christ lived?
I can he charitable, go to Church, help my neighbour and above all love Cod. How, though, can I do. as the rich man did not do, divest myself of my worldly goods?
If I started selling the furniture and distributing it to the poor, my family no doubt viould think me demented and would surely say that what I give already is enough.
But please I want genuinely to knou how, without going to these extremes, I can folksy Cod's Word. (Mrs) L. Gallagher
I write this on the Feast of St Frances of Rome, wife and mother in a well-to-do family. You have asked in the Herald for "answers" to Mrs Gallagher's problem (March 2) as being one which faces so many Christians today.
Mrs Gallagher seems to be doing quite well! But this is how 1 see the problem in general, and it may or may not help: it is only one humble opinion. I will add that though I am single, I have lived in large families and taken complete charge alone of five or six children at times.
We can all follow Christ towards the individual perfection he requires of each ... which means that we must be like the different flowers, each giving him perfect praise, and not like a string of sausages out of a machine! Each kind of life has its own difficulties.
However. I think many Catholics in England today put too much emphasis on the material, even with regard to what we should "give up"! God does not expect a mother with children to live without furniture, as He might do of a hermit living in a cave. But what we all con aim at is detachment — not to be possessive —and to arrive at this we do need self-discipline.
Even a busy mother — and I know some with large families who do — can organise her time so that "spare" moments are given to God in silence rather than to the noise or radio. TV, idle chatter, etc. And the more moments she finds in her day to concentrate on God alone, to talk to Him and listen to Him in her heart — even while working — the more she will understand what is the individual perfection God wants of her.
Perhaps He might ask some to
spend 10 minutes each day reading the "Introduction to the Devout Life", written by St Francis of Sales to a married woman, and expressly to give guidance to tItose who cannot "leave all and go into the desert".
His advice can easily be adapted and applied today, and modern translations can be found in good Catholic bookshops. About the possession of riches he has this to say: 'It is one thing to possess poison, another to be poisoned!" (Part II, Ch 14 — Spiritual Poverty, also Ch 15, 16).
Christ's teaching in Scripture has its inner and deeper meaning as well as that which is immediately apparent — ie "to give up all" can mean to give up our own wills, just as much as to give up material things. "To feed the hungry" can mean to feed the spiritually hungry (perhaps one's children) as well as to put money in the hand of a beggar. I feel the modern tendency in Britain is to concentrate so much on the corporal works of mercy that the importance of the spiritual ones are sometimes forgotten — and these are inherent in the vocation of motherhood. Perhaps we all just have to make sure we keep our priorities in the right order — putting soul before body, God first, man second, and self last.
This is a challenge that everyone
can try to respond to, no matter what the state chile. To follow Christ in the way of his cross will always mean to put God first, and His will for each of us, and this will not necessarily require the sale of all household possessions! — though it ?nigh( mean that I should rid myself of the superfluous and luxurious, and perhaps one pastime that takes time I could be giving to God in simple prayer?
(Miss) Wendy Field
Hayling Island, Hampshire,
Mrs Gallagher, your letter shows abundantly that you are not selfsatisfied. I hope you see that your are not rich either — except in that which we all share equally — the love of God.
Please don't feel guilty, it just saps up the time we can give to God and our neighbour. Ask Him to show you
what to du, and thank Him with a light heart. Sometimes it's harder to receive than to give!
Name and address supplied.
The de-energising effect of the affluent society is something we have all experienced in ourselves, yet to recover a Christian dynamism can be difficult. What is required is not some great dramatic gesture such as giving away the household furniture. More important than this would be to test how we use other resources — our time and personal skills, We tend to be so busy that we never have a moment to ask whether we are satisfied that we use time for the important things. More than anything else, growing youngsters need someone to come home to, someone who will really give them time and full attention.
F. Campbell Portswood,
Southampton.
Families need furniture and clothes, whether they are fortunate enough to possess them or are poor Third World peasants; but they don't need luxuries or much of what our industrial society, dependent on encouraging people's yearning for more and more unnecessary objects (turn on ITV for a moment), would like us to want,
If Mrs Gallagher can develop her familay's sense of ultimate priorities, teach them that you cannot serve God and mammon, that you don't need two coats to your back, that the lilies of the field were quite gorgeous enough without expensive cosmetics of the latest ephemeral gimmick, then she is presenting a positive Christian attitude in contrast to the self-centre materialism that most of us cannot avoid living among.
The rich young man rejected a vocation to the religious lire or poverty, chastity and obedience: Mrs Gallagher obviously has accepted the rather different and equally lovely one of marriage and motherhood, which for purely practical reasons cannot sell all that it has in order to follow Christ.
(Mrs) Bridget Krasinska Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Recently, two of us furnished a house for no more than £100 through classified ads and cast-ofTs from friends and relatives. Utensils and clothes have recently come with a clear conscience from Oxfam shops and jumble sales. It's two miles by bicycle to work, plus longer weekend journies for visits (by bike / train if necessary), so there is no need to be saddled with a car.
Had you told me six months ago that we would get a cooker and a piano free, I wouldn't have listened, but now I believe God does care for those who try to serve Him. With plenty of books and a radio, why should I want anything else, whatever my parents or the advertisers say? Living costs fl 5 to 117 a week including rent, eating bread, vegetables and cereals rather than meat or convenience foods; no expensive hobbies (except Christianity), no cigarettes, seldom alcohol. I already have a financial float from student days. To save any more would be antiGospel, so 60 to 70 per cent of my income can go to overseas charity, where it should do most good. Giving by covenant brings the great (it illegitimate) joy of avoiding the taxman.
When we stop making idols of our ideal homes or cars, we have time to channel our aspirations into prayer and growth in knowledge of God. We are then less prone to want to possess things, more open to other people. The more we serve our own community, the more we may share possessions with them in any case. Professional scientist (24) Name and address supplied Student Runcorn, Cheshire.
First Mrs Gallagher perhaps underestimates the vocation of parenthood. She Is devoting a sizeable portion of her life to the raising of a family — five people in God's image and likeness.
As for divesting herself of all her worldly goods, one needs tools for the trade. tier home and furnishings, etc, are necessary for the creation of a secure and stimulating environment which is essential to the upbringing of children.
So, Mrs Gallagher, bide your time. Relax and accomplish your present great task well and you will surely soon be rewarded by seeing your offspring undertake some of the tasks you would like to be doing yourself. Perhaps you may even be able to subsidise them in some voluntary chantable undertaking during their early working life.
Once your family are safely on their way in the world your time will come, please God, to spread your wings to encompass some of the more urgent needs of the less fortunate members of the universal family. (Mrs) A. M. Murrin Brundall,
Norwich.
Every. month, on pay day, Mrs Gallagher, her husband and older children should list all the demands on father's and mother's income — mortgage, rates, food, etc. When these have been met, the pay remaining will he available for charity.
Damian Goidie Vincent Court,
New Park Road, London, SW2.
If every C'atholle donated a tithe of their earnings, every need in the Church today in the field of mission, poverty alleviation, care of the aged and orphans, in addition to its expansion needs, would be adequately met and people like Mrs Gallagher would indeed feel the joy and sense of value that their offerings of first fruits Instead of left-overs would bring into their good lives.
(Fr) Joseph Jennings Mobile,
Alabama.
Grow up and walk tall! Meet the challenge presented by a materialistic society with the gifts of the spirit. Use your imagination, critical faculties, good will and intelligence, and leave the errors or omissions you are bound to make, to the Lord's abundant mercy,
Ursula Perry Banbury, Oxfordshire.