My Family Didn't Get It...
When I first converted, I thought my family would at least try to understand. Instead, it was the opposite. They thought I believed they were “bad people.” Thought I was becoming some extreme religious guy who looked down on them. And if I’m being honest—at the start, I probably did judge them too. It’s hard when you find something so true, so life-changing—and the people closest to you don’t just reject it, they dismiss it entirely. It made the beginning of my faith journey really difficult. I wanted them to see what I saw. To realize what I realized. To understand why I couldn’t live the same way anymore. But no matter how much I explained, how many discussions I had, it didn’t click for them. And I had to learn a tough truth: they may never get it. That realization used to frustrate me, but now I’ve come to accept it. One thing that helped along the way was learning how to bring those frustrations to Mary. She watched her Son be misunderstood, mocked, and rejected—by the very people He came to save. When I started praying the Rosary more consistently, I wasn’t just repeating words—I was learning to carry my suffering like she did: with love, not bitterness. Not everyone will see the world the way you do. Not everyone will understand why you live the way you live. And that’s okay. The answer isn’t to force it. It’s to lead by example. It’s easy to judge, to wish people were different, to feel resentment for the tension that faith can sometimes bring into relationships. But Christ calls us to something harder—to love anyway. To be patient. To pray for them. To focus on our own holiness instead of trying to fix everyone else. Mary’s patience has taught me a lot. If you’re the only Catholic in your family, I get it. It’s tough. But stay the course. Stay faithful. God doesn’t need you to win debates—He needs you to live in a way that makes people curious. And when the time is right, maybe—just maybe—they’ll start to wonder why you have something they don’t.