A Culture of Life
When I was young, we hosted many, many family days at the Ranch. I was often the oldest kid, so I usually baby-sat the younger ones or just sat quietly listening to the adults. Over and over again my parents were asked about our family heritage — dad is Lebanese/Polish and mom was Japanese/Irish — which always led to further questions regarding culture and tradition, to which my parents would always reply:
“Well, we want our culture and traditions to be Catholic.”
“In Living the Liturgical Calendar, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, being mindful of his constant love for us while enjoying the sacred Traditions of our rich, Catholic culture.” (Spirituality: A Way of Salvation - #9 Culture)
“Today I invite you to comprehend your Christian vocation” (Our Lady of Medjugorje 11/25/97)
Now that I’m having a child of my own, I’ve been pondering what culture I would like to raise her in and those early memories of my parent’s explanations keep coming back.
I definitely don’t want to raise her in the social culture of today’s modern world. I see all around me glassy-eyed toddlers staring at tablets, middle-schoolers twerking for followers on tik-tok, college students striving to reach the highest thrill, and parents too focused on “self-care” to realize that their high schooler is contemplating suicide. I also don’t feel a huge connection (beyond the food) to my Lebanese/Japanese cultures or my husband’s Chinese/Southern cultures… Which always brings me back to the Catholic Culture that I was raised in.
I’ve found that at the heart of Catholicism is LIFE and LOVE found within COMMUNITY.
While at the heart of our society is SELFISHNESS and DEATH found within INDIVIDUALISM.
“…today, under the guise of progress, civilization has become uncivilized. Inventions in industry, transportation, and communication have progressed convenience, comfort, and competition, but regressed our sense of community. We went from realizing our dependence on God and one another to thinking that we are self-sufficient and independent. We went from a sense of community to a sense of individualism. This transition has left many souls empty without God, as opposed to a fullness of life with Him. The results of this self-inflicted oppression are staggering statistics of divorce, abortion, and suicide. Individualism has created divorce and death; the break-up of family life resulting in the breakdown of social life. Individualism has broken our unity, thus broken our community.” (Lifestyle: A People Set Apart).
When I was serving middle/high schoolers with NET Ministries, I saw first hand this sense of entitlement and selfishness not only among the youth but also from the parents that would pick them up after the retreat was over. It was weird. The kids preferred to take selfies in the bathroom or sneak in “vaping breaks” rather than say hello to their fellow retreatants or simply smile at the missionaries trying to connect with them… Then their mom or dad would yell at them for making them wait five minutes in the parking lot. “Didn’t they know the game started or that she was late for her hair appointment?” Everyone was so focused on their own thing… and almost everyone of them was miserable.
For us growing up at Our Lady’s Ranch, we definitely went through our own hard times, but I remember my childhood as being incredibly happy — hanging out with other families, cooking dinners with mom, going over English lessons with dad, saving money with my brother so we could go to Europe... Now I can see that my happiness remained because we were focused on each other and not just our selves.
We were a big family living a small family lifestyle, more concerned with being together than needing to make enough money to keep up with the latest pattern in Vans or to get the next upgrade of iPhone. We weren’t homesteading with other people yet, but we were pioneering an old idea in a new century.
“A small family farm reduces the cost of living to help a family work less outside the home. Combining a small farming operation with home schooling and at-home entertainment reduces costs even more. Then, because the family members tend to be at home more often, there is less pressure to buy more stuff or nicer things (because, well; they do)… now there is more work at home rather than more work outside the home… now we need family work time rather than more individual time. Now we need each other, and that’s a good thing. We need each other to share in the work. We need each other’s prayers. We need to eat, and it’s more enjoyable to eat together. We need recreation so we play together. And we need to rest, and nothing could be better than resting in our own home. So with working, praying, eating, playing, and resting, we now have the five essential components of unity and the time to enjoy them together – to enjoy each other forever.” (Lifestyle: A People Set Apart)
The heart of Our Lady’s Ranch… faith, family, & farming.
THAT is the culture in which I want to raise my daughter. I want us to shine a light of life and love, amidst the current societal darkness of selfishness and death.
The difference is TOGETHER instead of APART.
It seems to me that most of us are blessed with little souls and simple faiths, meaning God doesn’t expect us to die as martyrs or undergo some brutal illness for the salvation of souls. Rather, he calls us to make little changes within our lives to bring us closer and closer to himself. Our little souls can follow little ways of salvation in order to change this culture of death one little bit at a time. So, in wanting to share something concrete to help, I made a list of family activities that can replace bad habits with conscious, faith-based choices — These ideas are ones that my young family are both taking and planning on taking. Maybe they can help you too…
The best way to summarize these ideas is through Mother Theresa, who always captures my thoughts in the simplest way…
God Bless —
Tyler Straight
Oldest Zeiter Kid
Design & Marketing for Our Lady’s Ranch
