Holy Family 12.1.20 Learning from the masters
Why did God invent families? To teach us to control our egos,
and learn to consider others as well as our own selves. It is good for us to
learn that other people are as important as we are.
The family also represents in at least symbolic form the
harmony and unity that exists in Heaven, for which place we are being prepared.
Because of original sin we are born with an essentially
selfish outlook on life. With baptism and other sacraments, and the word of God
to guide us, we come to see a wider picture.
This is what God wants us to learn, and He will help us in
the process.
His word tells us: And let the peace of Christ rejoice in
your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body…(epistle)
We learn to care what happens to others, those whom we love,
and eventually those we do not love… but then, come to think of it, we learn to
love everyone – if we let the workings of grace go to work on us.
Thus we have the Church, one big happy family – maybe not so
happy, but that is because of sin, which can be cleared away.
God wants us to understand how things should look even if we
have not yet achieved it in reality.
We will achieve it before we reach Heaven, because no one in
Heaven has any selfishness left; it has all been purged away.
Seeing the vision will at least influence us in the right
direction.
We have some Heaven on earth in today’s feast: the Holy
Family exhibits charity between its members in the strongest possible way.
We might say that the Holy Family is so far above other
families as to make comparison impossible.
Yet we can learn from the masters. We may never play tennis
as well as the world’s best, but we can still learn from them.
We can learn from these masters of holiness – Jesus, Mary
and Joseph. We will never be as good as they were, but we can learn; and we
resolve to do that.
We can also draw strength from them – in the form of grace
which is offered freely to all who seek it.
The Holy Family does not show us what to do; they give us ability
we would not otherwise have. The mysterious power of grace will enable us to
grow in our capacity to love God and one another.
There is always the problem that love may not be mutual. We
might love the rest of humanity, but some of them may not love us! Not everyone
plays by God's rules.
However the holiness of even one person will help the
overall body. We can work with imperfection if we ourselves have a clear focus.
We must make families work, as we must make the overall
family of the Church work. If human faults abound we fix them, not use them as
excuses to abandon responsibility.
The best chance we all have of making necessary changes to
our own lives is the combined prayer and charity of those who are seeking the
right things.
Sharing in the life of the Church, we have the best chance
of being saved and of helping to save others.
It may not be possible to save everyone but that is our
desire and clear goal – as it has always been the will of God.
The Holy Family loved God and each other. They invite us to
share in that love, to enter their world. We might say at first that we cannot
survive at their altitude, but they will sustain us in our struggles.
We pray for all families, for those without families, for
the Church – family for all; and for the lost sheep who need refuge.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, come to our aid!
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