By Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain • Posted July 17, 2018

She says:

Maura says: Liam and I have been fortunate enough to take a vacation with our family each year since we were married. No matter where we go, we have a great time. I know we have created many fond memories.

This year’s vacation has already been planned, but I have been thinking of doing something very different for next year.

Instead of the normal go-to-the-shore or theme park area or to the mountains for our own relaxation and pleasure, I thought we should go to a mission area and spend a week helping the poor or building homes with Habitat for Humanity … something like that.

Our kids are teenagers now and it is time for them to start getting a taste of poverty and to realize how privileged their lives have been. An alternative to a mission trip would be a trip to Poland and Auschwitz to educate ourselves on the Holocaust.

In today’s secular world I think it is important for us to provide our kids with a first-hand knowledge of the challenges presented to other people who do not live in the lap of luxury in our USA. Liam is very reserved about doing something like this type of vacation. He thinks the kids can read about the Holocaust or share some of their own money to help the missions.

He says:

Liam says: We have always taught our children about God and sharing and taking time with the elderly, and so forth. Our vacation should be a fun time for us.

[hotblock]

We work hard all year and we earned it. Maura wants to give up a whole week of family fun to go to a depressed area to work, or to go to a foreign country to get sad over a horrific experience for humanity. That could just leave us either aching from working to build a house for someone or depressed after experiencing the holocaust trip.

I need to get some R & R after working hard all year. Aren’t there other ways for our kids to learn about helping others or being empathetic to situations that should never have happened?

“(Jesus) said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while’” (Mark 6:31).

What Do They Do?

Deep down within us, memories are created when we give of our substance to others. That means when we go beyond the giving an extra $10 to the mission collection, or once in a while personally going to the homeless shelter to dish out food to the truly poor.

Maura’s idea of spending vacation time with the family to do something really different could provide a deeper connection and spiritual dimension to their family than any regular vacation might provide.

Liam should seriously consider doing this for one vacation; to go beyond the norm and to choose to make a mark on the world (or the village you visit) and in the process make a deep growth in his own family’s spirituality.

Maura has a superb idea. She should gather information about the various types of outreach efforts or places to go, and ask a family who did something like this to speak to her family about how that affected them.

She should invite the other families with whom they go on vacation to see if there is any interest in joining in the mission trip. She may be surprised.

Even if the other families show no interest, Maura and Liam should go ahead themselves; after all, it would be for one year and the effects may exceed their expectations and be life-altering for their teenagers.

“He who confers benefits will be amply enriched, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 12:25).