The foundation of all life
Mireille – December 2020
Of Lebanese origin, I met Louis and Zélie thanks to Saint Thérèse.
I was seduced by the intensity of the love within their couple, by the mutual respect they had for each other. But above all, what seems most important to me is the harmony between work, prayer life and family life that they have managed to weave.
Being a mother myself, and having experienced religious life, I feel them close to me: like friends and role models. They teach us to live the ordinary in an extraordinary way. I pray to them a lot, and I have received graces from them: patience, perseverance in prayer in the midst of trial.
While being accessible, they offer us an impressive image of the family in the world.
It seems to me that God has given them the mission, in today's world, of reminding families who are sometimes alienated from it by modernity, of the foundation of all life: God served first.
They also show how much the Christian education given to children is a real issue.
The Martin family also raises the question of vocation: they show how much marriage is a real vocation, which not everyone can live and assume. It is a call, just like religious life. It is in no way a default choice, a last resort, or an easy way out. And there are vocations within vocations: like that of Thérèse, who had both the vocation of a cloistered contemplative… and of a missionary!
Each path of life unfolds following calls from God, who never guides us where we think we are going, and reveals to us a wealth of vocation(s) that we would not have imagined. But all these facets are testimonies of the Gospel.
