The Holy Family begins at home…
(12-27-2009)
As you look at family life you see the dynamics in the relationships between spouses, parents, children, grandparents, aunts/uncles, and the line of people who make up family life. All of our family interactions, the history, the pain, the joy, are moments of grace at work in our lives if we would just pay attention to them. For God is in each moment.
The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven/ And every common bush afire with God:/ And only he who sees takes off his shoes-/ The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” -
Reverence like charity, begins at home.
How often has a family problem brought about even a stronger bond as members worked together out of love and reverence for the relationship that God chose to make, putting us in the family we needed to be in for growth in grace and the many lessons of life. The lessons in families are not always easy, but opportunities always present to grow in the grace offered by God.
I believe there are no accidents in where God has chosen to place us in life, if we would just listen and look for God among us, as close as a spouse, a parent, a brother or sister.
And God speaks to us through our family, our culture our history in all parts of life. Culture and family history should be a source of pride not shame, a richness of heritage. We are formed and richly made by all who have gone before us—they are a part of us—grace at work in us.
Those graces are expressed in our reading from the Book of Sirach this Holy Family Sunday which also describes healthy life-giving ingredients in the parent-child, familial relationship as honor, reverence, and kindness. These are holy nutrients. These are valuable ingredients that form our humanity. Honor, reverence, and kindness like charity, should begin at home—if we invest deeply enough in revering God present in one another.
I believe that many people see the family as hallowed ground, the home as holy, and the holiness of life created in the image of God—as children—God’s gift. If you don’t think that the home is hallowed ground then you’ve never had your mom yell at you to “take off your shoes before you walk on that floor!”
God’s graces grows especially when parents are not numbed by ambition, competition and greed for bigger cars, houses, more clothes and electronics, or substituting love with the preoccupation of career and how American success seems to be defined. Instead, holiness in families comes from mother and/or father defining their responsibility as being a successful parent.
One of the greatest joys for me as a priest and being connected to parish life is to hear many parents tell me that their first priority is to make time to be with their children. Family life somehow becomes more grace filled—loved filled when it becomes a priority.
The spirituality of family life and its importance is certainly a part of all we celebrate this Sacred Season and in our readings from scripture. From Christmas, and the celebration of the Holy Family today, we then move to New Year’s Day with the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. We pay Mary great homage for her role in the Incarnation, as well we should.
We know that Mary was a simple young woman. We do not even hear of her family lineage. God might have chosen one of higher social ranking as the mother of the "royal" Son. Interesting too is that the simple shepherds saw Mary’s gift, Jesus, before all others. It is the shepherds who herald his arrival.
While there is the greatest miracle of God born human, also think about the message of simplicity in this beautiful season. It reminds us that God’s miracles are in the daily and the ordinary happenings in seemingly ordinary people. That is true for us today—God reveals grace especially in our family.
And when we stand before the Lord and are asked how we responded to His call to love and to make an account of our lives, I’m certain the questions won’t include how many houses did you own, how much money did you make, how many buildings did you build, how many cars did you own, what kind of toys did you buy, or what kind of clothes did you wear, the question will be how did you respond to my call to love in the family that was created for you—and did you take off your shoes?
Be charitable! I pray that all of you are able to rejoice in being a part of God’s Holy Family.
Blessings in the New Year, Fr. Gordon
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