Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Tag: Family

  • Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today’s Gospel reminds me of a sound bite for the evening news or a shoddy post on social media. Taken out of context, Jesus is denying his family. And not only that, but Jesus now has “brothers,” so what happened to the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary? Sound bites cause nothing but trouble because you don’t have the context to know what’s really being said. These sound bites take a whole lot of explanation, and the ones we have in today’s Gospel are certainly no exception.

    First of all, let’s tackle the idea of Jesus having brothers. Many ideas surround that issue and have developed over time, as I am sure you can appreciate. One idea says that St. Joseph was an older man, and had sons by a previous wife, now dead. These would be Jesus’ half-brothers. There is no actual evidence for that theory, nor even a tradition of it from the early Church. Another idea comes from the fact that the Greek word translated “brothers” here is general enough that it might also refer to cousins or some other close kindred. So the brothers here would be close family members, not necessarily brothers. This theory is supported by linguistic study and usage, so it’s more accepted. In either case, the Church affirms the perpetual virginity of Mary and this Gospel is not trying to confuse us, but is rather teaching us on another topic.

    The second sound bite is that Jesus seems to turn away from his mother and his relatives and claims that his family is those who hear the word of God and act on it. Well, Jesus certainly wasn’t turning away from his beloved mother or any of his close relatives. We know for a fact that Mary was the first of the disciples. Jesus seems to be more widening his family relationships than restricting them to just those related by blood. Which is good news for all of us who are now included in that family. Giving ourselves to the Word of God, hearing it and living it, we are mother and brother and sister to Christ.

    So I think the call for us disciples as we hear this word proclaimed today is that we are to strive to be in the family of Jesus. We were initiated into that family when we were baptized, and we are called to live that way each day. The family of Jesus hears the word of God and acts on it. That’s what Jesus is teaching us today. So we who would be his brothers and sisters have work to do; amazingly joy-filled work.

  • The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

    The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

    Today’s readings

    As we gather to reflect on and celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph today, we might be looking at them way up on a pedestal, and forget that we have been called to become holy in our own families.  When we think about our families, holiness might see so very remote, nearly impossible, for us to achieve.  And if we think we have to get there on our own, we are correct: that is impossible.  But we are never expected to achieve grace on our own, even if it were possible for us to do such a thing.

    So I get it: some families who are here today may have just managed to get here on time, or a little after.  Maybe there was the constant argument with the kids about why they have to go to church.  Or maybe someone wasn’t quite ready on time.  It might have been hard to turn off the television or tear someone away from the new toy they just got for Christmas.  And so, as they hustle in here to church and sit down, maybe the holiness of the family is the furthest thing from their minds.

    So it can be hard to relate, I think, to the Holy Family in some ways.  Maybe you’re thinking, “How do I get one of those?” There are all sorts of families out there: families broken by divorce or separation, families marked by emotional or physical abuse, families fractured by living a great distance apart, families grieving the loss of loved ones or agonizing over the illness of one of the members, families of great means and those touched by poverty, homelessness and hunger, families divided by immigration issues, families torn by family secrets, grudges and age-old hurts. Some are trying to form a family: they want to have children, but are unable.  There are healthy families and hurting families, and every one of them is graced by good and touched by some kind of sadness at some point in their history.

    My spiritual director in seminary once said that family can be the source of our greatest joys and deepest hurts, sometimes all in the same day.  And he’s right.  Families aren’t perfect, and sometimes in that imperfection there is hurt that gets passed down from generation to generation.  The institution of the family is an extremely precarious thing. We know this. God knows this. Yet it was into this flawed structure that the God of all the earth chose to come into our world. Taking our flesh and joining a human family, Christ came to be Emmanuel, God with us, and sanctify the whole world by his most merciful coming.

    St. Paul exhorts us all to be marked by holiness, part of the family of God. We do this, he tells us, by showing one another “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” Living in a family, living the Christian life, requires sacrifice. Some days we don’t feel very compassionate, but we are still called to be that way. We might not feel like showing someone kindness, or patience, or being humble. But that’s what disciples do. But the real sticking point is that whole forgiveness thing. Because all of us are going to fail in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience at one time or another. So just as the Lord has forgiven us, so many times and of so many things, so must we forgive one another. We live our whole lives trying to figure out how to do this.

    Our Gospel reading gives us some direction and some hope today.  Jesus is brought to the temple as the Jewish tradition held.  An offering is made on his behalf by his parents and they have come to receive a blessing.  The blessing went deeper than they may have imagined, perhaps, but even this was probably not much of a surprise to them at this point.  Here both Simeon and Anna, who have been waiting for this very day all their lives, who have looked faithfully for God’s answer to the problem of sin, have their hopes and dreams fulfilled.  Simeon blesses the three of them and prophesies to Mary that all their days will not be without sadness.  And we all know how the story works out: Simeon was absolutely right about that.  But how disconcerting that must have been to Mary and Joseph who had come with joy to the Temple for this occasion.

    Like I said, this Gospel gives us hope and direction.  Hope by knowing that even this Holy Family had times of sadness in store.  Direction in the faithfulness they have shown one another.  The Gospel ends by saying that they returned to their town and lived their lives, and “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

    If we could take the Holy Family down off the pedestal for a minute, and really look at them, give ourselves to them, maybe we could find some holiness in our own families after all.  Maybe we can see a family who works through the hard times, who believes the message of the angels in their lives, who loves because love is a gift from God and isn’t ours to hoard or dole out only when the other is nice to us.  Maybe we can see a family who is faithful to each other and faithful to God, who radiates grace and models how to deal with adversity. And we can certainly see a family who will intercede for our own families that they might be holy and filled with grace.

    Every single one of us is called to be holy, brothers and sisters. And every single one of our families is called to be holy. That doesn’t mean that we will be perfect. Some days we will be quite far from it. But it does mean that we will be faithful in love and respect. It means that we will unite ourselves to God in prayer and worship. It means we will love when loving is hard to do. Mary loved Jesus all the way to the Cross and watched him die. What we see in the model of the Holy Family for us is not perfection, but faithfulness and holiness.

    That holiness will make demands of us. It did for Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Simeon and Anna were quite clear that sorrow lay in store for them.  But they continued to live their lives, aided by the Spirit of God, and they all grew strong in wisdom and grace.  Those same blessings are intended for us too, all of us who do our best to live according to the Spirit in our own human families, no matter what those families may look like.

  • Funeral Homily for My Mother, Julia Mulcahy

    Funeral Homily for My Mother, Julia Mulcahy

    In my funeral homilies for mothers, I have often reflected on how hard it is to lose a mother.  It turns out I was right!  From the very earliest moments of our existence and for many years, our mothers are our lifelines.  They provide food and sustenance first in the womb, then as we grow.  In the womb, our hearts beat together, and an amazing bond is formed.

    For my sisters and me, that bond was strengthened in these past few years, and especially in the last six or seven months as her illnesses progressed.  We all told her, and strongly believed, that it was our privilege to accompany her in her suffering, and to help relieve her as best we could.  We became the ones who provided food and sustenance – it’s a good thing she taught us all how to cook!  

    The collect prayer I chose for this morning evokes the fourth commandment: honor your father and mother.  I have often said over these few months that caring for Mom gave me a new appreciation, and a real love for, that commandment.  These months have certainly been difficult, but caring for Mom gave me a joy and a peace that I don’t think I would otherwise have had.  I think all three of us would say that.  That has been a blessing, and a consolation these past few months.

    “Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”  The writer of the Proverbs in our first reading puts words to a sentiment that we had for Mom, a devoted wife and mother, a grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.  Today, we have come together in grief, to remember her contributions to our lives, and to pray for her soul.  This reading says a great deal about who my mother was.  It speaks of a woman who was smart, shared her wisdom, and lived with dignity.  That was Mom.  Anytime we had a project, or a problem, she had an idea for how to do it.  One of the things I often remember her saying is, “There must be a better way.”  And if there was, she would sure find it.  

    Mom’s faith was central to who she was.  One of my very earliest memories was of Mom teaching me the guardian angel prayer.  That prayer has accompanied my own journey through life, and it was one that we prayed together every night in the last year or so of her life.  She was also very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Rosary.  She was the one who taught me to pray it when I was young.  And I know so many of those beads have passed through her hands as she was praying for the three of us, and for her grandchildren, who were the light of her life in later years.  

    She and Dad lived their faith by being active in our parish growing up.  They were catechists in the high school program, and hosted a freshman class in their home for several years.  They also volunteered with the Saint Vincent DePaul Society, and delivered Christmas gifts to those in need for the parish.  They got us involved too, and being an active part of our parish was part of our family life.  My parents’ lived faith and my Mom’s fervent prayers certainly led me to the priesthood, and I’ll always be grateful for that.  I think Holy Mother Church owes a great deal to the mothers of many priests.

    “Love never fails,” says Saint Paul in our second reading.  One of the hallmarks of our family, always, was that we all knew how much we were loved.  We might disagree with each other on occasion, but we always sought the good of each other.  It was, indeed, a love that never failed.  It was a love that would have us lay down our lives for each other.  As Mom grew ill, the three of us met with her.  And the first thing she said to us was, “I know I’m a problem for you guys.”  We all said, no, Mom, you have a problem, you are not a problem.  And just like any of the problems our family has ever faced, we found a way to get through it.  The “better way” was love, and love wouldn’t have us do anything less for her than we did.  Love never fails to help us lay down our lives for each other.

    Probably for my whole priesthood, I dreaded this day, the day I would have to preach at my Mother’s funeral.  It’s hard to put into words what she meant to me, and to all of us, and it’s especially hard to do that without a tear in my eye.  But it is an absolute privilege to celebrate this funeral Mass for my Mother who had such a beautiful soul, and whose love inspired so many of the good things I have been able to do in my life.  We gather this morning with heavy hearts, because no matter how many years we’ve had, it’s never enough.  But we disciples never grieve without hope, because we know that the love that caused our Lord Jesus to lay down his life for us gives us the promise of being able to come together as family again, one day, in the house of our God.

    I find comfort in the words of this funeral Mass.  We are a people who steadfastly, courageously believe that there is hope in the midst of sorrow, joy in the midst of pain, resurrection that follows death, and love that survives the grave and leads us to the one who made us for himself.  The words of hope that we find in the prayers of this Mass lead us back to the Cross and Resurrection.  Death is not the end.  Love does not come to an end at the grave. 

    In a few moments, I will sing the preface to the Eucharistic Prayer.  I love the words of faith that it contains: “Indeed, for your faithful, Lord, life is changed, not ended, and when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.”  We believe that Mom, and all our loved ones who have been people of faith, have been made new by passing through the gates of death.  Their happiness is our hope; the grace and blessing that they now share can one day be ours, too.

    Mom gave us so many wonderful memories.  Her wonderful sense of humor, her recipe for Sunday Gravy, the many Thanksgivings where she had everyone over to the house and cooked a feast for an army, the unconditional love and the joy that she had whenever we were together, and so much more.  Sharon, Peggy, and I will miss being able to share a Facebook meme with her or tell her about what’s going on in our lives, there will be that empty place on the living room sofa.  But the faith and love that she taught us will keep her memory alive in our minds and hearts, and for that we can be grateful.  We give thanks that we had the most wonderful mother, and grandmother, and that we were able to serve her in her last days, as she served us throughout our lives.

    And so it is with profound sadness, but also with ultimate trust in Almighty God that we commend my mother, our sister Julie to the Lord, knowing that his mercy is great and that his love will keep us united at the Eucharistic banquet until that day when death is conquered and sadness is banished and we are all caught up in God’s life forever.

    On the night before Mom died, we prayed together as we always did.  We said the guardian angel prayer, and then I gave a blessing, using the antiphon from the Canticle of Night Prayer as I did every night:

    Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace. Rest in Christ’s peace, Mom, you deserve it. You fought so much illness in the last several years, peace is a blessing.

    And so we pray: Eternal rest grant unto our sister Julia, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

  • The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

    The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

    Today’s readings

    One of the great snapshots of Christmas for me has always been the manger scene. These beautiful figurines give us a glimpse as to what God is doing at the Incarnation of Christ – an amazing moment in time!  But I am aware that the idyllic holiness, peace and love the crèche depicts is often quite foreign to the experience of many families, including many families in this assembly. I know there are families where communication is anything but good. There are families who may never have known the kind of love that is shared between Jesus, Mary and Joseph. There are families who struggle with abuse: physical, sexual, or emotional.

    Even in the “best” of families, there is often hardship. I know there are families who struggle to keep up with all the activities that are expected of them. There are families who can’t find time to have a meal together, let alone take a trip together. Families often struggle to make ends meet. There are families who struggle with the changing needs of children as they grow older. Families may be separated by great distance, or may have suffered the sickness or death of one of the members. Other families may find themselves changing roles as a parent, the one who provided for his or her children, grows old and becomes ill and then becomes the one in need of care.

    Families can be and are the source of our greatest joys and our deepest anguish. Sometimes all in the same day. The truth is, and perhaps you find yourself thinking this as you sit there and listen to these readings today, none of our families is perfect. Few of us would rush to describe our families as well-functioning, let alone holy. And so we can sit there and look at the manger and find its serenity meaningless in the hectic anxiety of our day-to-day family lives.

    But maybe we need to look a little deeper or listen a little harder today. “Holy” and “perfect” are perhaps not the same thing. We don’t need to be perfect to be a family. That was true of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as well. Would a perfect family have lost their child on the way home from a trip? I don’t think so, but that’s exactly what happened, isn’t it? Mary says to Jesus when they find him that she and Joseph had been looking for him with “great anxiety.” Those of you who are parents can well imagine the anxiety and can totally identify with what Mary and Joseph had to have been feeling.  

    Not everything was perfect in that family, even from the beginning. Right at the beginning, they had to flee for their safety; they suffered from poverty and violent threats. Like many modern families in various places in the world, they suffered under political and military oppression, had to settle far from their original home and had to start a new life in a foreign place. Two thousand years may separate the modern family from the “Holy Family,” but there are so many similarities.

    So, what we are supposed to see in the Holy Family is something perhaps different from perfection.  I think it is faithfulness.  Faithfulness to God and faithfulness to one another: indeed, it is this faithfulness that leads them to the holiness we celebrate today.  Look at the way the situation in the Gospel reading today was resolved among them.  Even though they were panicked and anxious about the disappearance of their son; even though they did not understand what was going on with him, yet they strove to understand him and loved him beyond measure, and Mary kept all of these memories in her heart, kept them to be sorted out and understood and treasured later.  And even though Jesus was ready to grow into adulthood and ready to begin his mission, yet he understood the concerns of his parents and continued to be obedient to them as he continued to grow in human wisdom and grace. They were faithful to one another.

    I continue to be aware that even as I pull that theme of faithfulness out of today’s Scriptures, that can still seem insurmountable to many of you. Why should you be faithful when the hurts inflicted by other members of your family still linger? That’s a hard one to address, but the call to faithfulness is still there for all of us. And we’re not told to be faithful just when everyone else is faithful. Sometimes we are called to make an almost unilateral decision to love and respect the others in our families, and let God worry about the equity of it all. I know that’s easier to say than to do, but please know that this Church family supports you with prayer and love as you do that.

    Every single one of us is called to be holy, brothers and sisters. And every single one of our families is called to be holy. That doesn’t mean that we will be perfect. Some days we’ll be pretty far from it. But it does mean that we will be faithful in love and respect. It means that we will unite ourselves to God in prayer and worship. It means we will love when loving is hard to do. Mary loved Jesus all the way to the Cross and watched him die. What we see in the model of the Holy Family for us is not perfection, but faithfulness and holiness.

    That holiness will make demands of us. It did for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Holiness demands that we seek it; it doesn’t just descend from above. If we want holy families, and we certainly should, we will have to make decisions and even sacrifices to pursue it. We will have to make an honest priority of worship; attending Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation as a minimum without fail. We will have to surround our families in prayer, praying at meals, teaching and reviewing prayers, praying together at night, reciting the rosary together, reading the Scriptures together. Holy families are not going to be perfect in these things, but they will not fail to pursue that holiness every single day. It takes a daily decision to do that; but that is the vocation of the family in the world.

    Jesus, emerging from childhood to adulthood, reminds us that in his name, we must be ready to live faithful and holy lives, regardless of whether others are doing the same, and no matter what the personal cost. Because the cost of rejecting holiness in our lives is just too great, and the loss of an earthly family is nothing compared to losing our place in the family of God.

  • Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today’s Gospel reminds me of a sound bite for the evening news. Taken out of context, Jesus is denying his family. And not only that, but Jesus now has “brothers,” so what happened to the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary? Sound bites cause nothing but trouble because you don’t have the context to know what’s really being said. These sound bites take a whole lot of explanation, and the ones we have in today’s Gospel are certainly no exception.

    First of all, let’s tackle the idea of Jesus having brothers. Many ideas surround that issue and have developed over time, as I am sure you can appreciate. One idea says that St. Joseph was an older man, and had sons by a previous wife, now dead. These would be Jesus’ half-brothers. Another idea comes from the fact that the Greek word translated “brothers” here is general enough that it might also refer to cousins or some other close kindred. So the brothers here would be close family members, not necessarily brothers. In either case, the Church affirms the perpetual virginity of Mary and this Gospel is making a different point.

    The second sound bite is that Jesus seems to turn away from his mother and his relatives and claims that his family is those who hear the word of God and act on it. Well, Jesus certainly wasn’t turning away from his beloved mother or any of his close relatives. We know for a fact that Mary was the first of the disciples. Jesus seems to be more widening his family relationships than restricting them to just those related by blood. Which is good news for all of us who are now included in that family. Giving ourselves to the Word of God, hearing it and living it, we are mother and brother and sister to Christ. Praise God!

  • Holy Hour for Families

    Holy Hour for Families

    Readings: Joshua 24:14-18; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Matthew 12:46-50

    I always say that I don’t know how my mother would react if I pretended not to know her when she came to visit.  But that’s not actually true.  I am pretty sure that I do know how she would react, and I don’t think it would be pretty!  But I honestly don’t think Jesus was trying to distance himself from his Blessed Mother.  I think Jesus knew well that Mary inherited a great deal of grace from her Immaculate Conception that made her well aware of Jesus’ priorities and willing to assist in his ministry.

    I think we should take two things from today’s readings.  First, families are called to be holy.  Sure, you say, how do we even try to get to that point?  It might almost seem like the lack of holiness is a human condition, and so we cannot even expect to yearn for that great virtue.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  Sin is not a human attribute, in fact it’s about the least human thing there is.  Sin is us trying to be something we weren’t meant to be, to follow in a path we weren’t meant to trod.

    What is truly human is virtue.  We know this because Jesus was perfectly divine and perfectly human, and he never sinned.  So sin is something we were not meant to do.

    The source of holiness is the family unit.  As we grow in our families we learn.  Hopefully we learn holiness and virtue.  That’s what Joshua was trying to elicit in tonight’s first reading.  As the people Israel prepared to take the promised land, they would be tempted by all sorts of things.  They would be tempted to “fit in” with the rest of the people of the land and worship their so-called gods.  Joshua says they have to decide now whom they will serve.  Will it be those so-called gods, or will they, like his family, serve the LORD?

    It’s not just a quaint question for us, or a curiosity from ancient times.  It’s a question we all have to struggle with, to decide if we and our families will serve the Lord or serve someone or something else.  Will we instead serve the gods who demand that we play sports to the extent that we can’t get to Sunday Mass?  Will we instead serve the gods who demand that we sacrifice our time so much that we miss the growth of our children and distance ourselves from our families?  These questions are real ones, and we have to struggle with worshipping rightly just as much in our day as the people Israel did in Joshua’s day.

    The second thing we should take from these readings is that the call to discipleship is learned in the family.  That’s why the vignette with Mary is so important in our Gospel reading today.  Mary was clearly one of Jesus’ disciples, we know that from our Church history.  So when he said “whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother” we know that he certainly included Mary,  but also meant to include us too.  Brothers and sisters of the Lord are his disciples; together we carry out the ministry he wants to accomplish in the world.  We are meant to proclaim his word to all people in our actions.

    As families, we learn that as we pray and work together.  Making a family habit of prayer helps children – and adults too! – to work for the kingdom and not just for our own comfort.  Prayer helps us to be concerned for the welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and is the activity that gives us the grace to reach out in service.

    What we should hear in this holy hour then, is how Jesus wants us to serve him.  We see Jesus clearly here on the altar.  But we also have to see Jesus in the poor, in the sick, in every person God puts in our path.  Each one of them is our brother and sister, and if we would be brothers and sisters of the Lord, then we must reach out to them and show them God’s love.

    As we pray this evening then, I think we should all ask God to help us to be better disciples.  We should ask him how to serve him by serving our brothers and sisters in need.  Ask him to help us see the people around us who most need us right now, who most need to know how much God loves them.  Then we can take the grace and love of this Holy Hour to them.

    May God bless all of our families with holiness and grace, now and for ever.

  • The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

    The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

    Today’s readings

    It’s certainly appropriate that we celebrate the Holy Family today, just a few days after Christmas.  This feast helps to underscore that Jesus came to live among us in a very ordinary way: by taking flesh and becoming one of us, even to being part of a family.  So we look on the manger scenes that still are on display here in church and in our homes, and we see Jesus, Mary and Joseph beginning their lives together.  We  still sing Christmas carols that extol the peace of his coming, we can even come to this church to look at the beautiful statue of the Holy Family.

    Our thoughts about that beautiful family might run along the lines of “how nice for them!”  I’m aware that some families who are here today may have just managed to get here on time, or a little after.  Maybe there was the constant argument with the kids about why they have to go to church.  Or maybe someone wasn’t quite ready on time.  It might have been hard to turn off the television or tear someone away from the Wii they just got for Christmas.  And so, as they hustle in here to church and sit down, maybe the holiness of the family is the furthest thing from their minds.

    So it can be hard to relate, I think, to the Holy Family in some ways.  Maybe you’re thinking, “How do I get one of those?” There are all sorts of families out there: families broken by divorce or separation, families marked by emotional or physical abuse, families fractured by living a great distance apart, families grieving the loss of loved ones or agonizing over the illness of one of the members, families of great means and those touched by poverty, homelessness and hunger, families divided by immigration issues, families torn by family secrets, grudges and age-old hurts. Some are trying to form a family: they want to have children, but are unable.  There are healthy families and hurting families, and every one of them is graced by good and touched by some kind of sadness at some point in their history.

    Even the Holy Family, whose feast we celebrate today, was marked with challenges. An unexpected – and almost inexplicable – pregnancy marked the days before the couple was officially wed; news of the child’s birth touched chords of jealousy and hatred in the hearts of the nation’s leaders and caused the young family to have to flee for their lives and safety. Even this Holy Family was saddened, in some ways, by an extremely rocky beginning.

    The institution of the family is an extremely precarious thing. We know this. God knows this. Yet it was into this flawed structure that the God of all the earth chose to come into our world. Taking our flesh and joining a human family, Christ came to be Emmanuel, God with us, and sanctify the whole world by his most merciful coming.

    St. Paul exhorts us all to be marked by holiness, part of the family of God. We do this, he tells us, by showing one another “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” Living in a family, living the Christian life, requires sacrifice. Some days we don’t feel very compassionate, but we are still called to be that way. We might not feel like showing someone kindness, or patience, or being humble. But that’s what disciples do. But the real sticking point is that whole forgiveness thing. Because all of us are going to fail in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience at one time or another. So just as the Lord has forgiven us, so many times and of so many things, so must we forgive one another. We live our whole lives trying to figure out how to do this.

    Our Gospel reading gives us some direction and some hope today.  Jesus is brought to the temple as the Jewish tradition held.  An offering is made on his behalf by his parents and they have come to receive a blessing.  The blessing went deeper than they may have imagined, perhaps, but even this was probably not much of a surprise to them at this point.  Here both Simeon and Anna, who have been waiting for this very day all their lives, who have looked faithfully for God’s answer to the problem of sin, have their hopes and dreams fulfilled.  Simeon blesses the three of them and prophesies to Mary that all their days will not be without sadness.  And we all know how the story works out: Simeon was absolutely right about that.  But how disconcerting that must have been to Mary and Joseph who had come with joy to the Temple for this occasion.

    Like I said, this Gospel gives us hope and direction.  Hope by knowing that even this Holy Family had times of sadness in store.  Direction in the faithfulness they have shown one another.  The Gospel ends by saying that they returned to their town and lived their lives, and “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
    and the favor of God was upon him.”

    Because I think what we’re supposed to be seeing in the Holy Family today is not some kind of idyllic perfection.  Certainly they attained more perfection than any of us could ever possibly hope for in this life, but that’s not what we’re supposed to be focusing on.  What I think is worth focusing on is that, even though they knew there would be hard times ahead for them, they faithfully lived their lives through it all.  They continued to be a family, Jesus continued to grow and become strong in his human nature, and to be filled with wisdom and the favor of God.  And that, for us, is something worth striving for.  Being perfect might seem impossible, but being faithful is possible and it leads us to holiness.

    For Jesus, Mary and Joseph, their faithfulness helped them to absorb the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy and the dangers of oppression from the government, and still shed light on the whole world.  For us, faithfulness can help us to get through whatever rough spots life may have in store for us and not break apart.

    I am aware, however, that as I speak about faithfulness, that it all can still seem insurmountable. Why should you be faithful when the hurts inflicted by other members of your family still linger? That’s a hard one to address, but we’re not told to be faithful just when everyone else is faithful. Sometimes we are called to make an almost unilateral decision to love and respect the others in our families, and let God worry about the equity of it all. I know that’s easier to say than to do, but please you have your Church family to support you with prayer and love as you do it.

    Every single one of us is called to be holy, brothers and sisters. And every single one of our families is called to be holy. That doesn’t mean that we will be perfect. Some days we will be quite far from it. But it does mean that we will be faithful in love and respect. It means that we will unite ourselves to God in prayer and worship. It means we will love when loving is hard to do. Mary loved Jesus all the way to the Cross and watched him die. What we see in the model of the Holy Family for us is not perfection, but faithfulness and holiness.

    That holiness will make demands of us. It did for Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Simeon and Anna were quite clear that sorrow lay in store for them.  But they continued to live their lives, aided by the Spirit of God, and they all grew strong in wisdom and grace.  Those same blessings are intended for us to, all of us who do our best to live according to the Spirit in our own human families, no matter what those families may look like.