Seton Magazine Catholic Homeschool Articles, Advice & Resources
Summer’s here, students. Thank goodness, right! Now you can sit back, relax, and recover from a long hard year of schoolwork. Or if you’re not especially fond of relaxing, maybe you can get a job and make some money to put toward looming college expenses.
While neither option is necessarily an unworthy pursuit, I’d like to propose a higher road. Even as you work on recuperating from the school year or establishing some financial security, consider using this summer to work on charity.
- Help the old guy down the street by mowing his lawn and trimming his bushes.
- Offer to babysit the younger kids for a couple of nights so your parents can take a mini-vacation by themselves.
- Volunteer to read to the elderly at an assisted living home in your area.
- Galvanize your peers to do a roadside clean-up project.
- Willingly seek out extra chores at home that can take the pressure off your parents.
- Offer to help the older lady next door with her weekly grocery trip.
- Give your Saturday mornings to praying outside abortion clinics.
- Spend a few nights a week working in a soup kitchen.
- Volunteer landscaping help at the local monastery or convent.
Remember that charity in groups demands adhering to the standards of common courtesy, so be polite and cheerful, say please and thank you, and above all, turn off your electronic devices.
Ultimately, a vocation determines how you will serve God and others with your life, so it’s never too early to start thinking about what God might be asking you to do.
Use your creativity to find ways to help other people this summer so that you can exercise the virtue of charity while learning how your ability to serve intersects with people’s needs and your own skill set.
Doing so will position you well for seeing God’s plan for your life to reveal itself.
