Holy Family, Holy Families, Holy Church

Holy Family 29 December 2013   Deacon John McMullen

The book of Sirach calls families to tenderness and compassion: “Whoever honors his father atones for sins....he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.... Children, take care of your parents… even if their minds fail, be considerate, for kindness to a father or mother will not be forgotten.”

Saint Paul takes up the topic of family life as well. These verses of scripture are often abused. "Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them." The husband is to be Christ-like to his wife. That is, being a man of heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love, and peace. 

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he writes that both husbands and wives are to both “be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” He also reminds husbands that they must love their wives as their own body, and be willing to die for them. “…just as Christ loved the Church” (See Ephesians 5.21-33).

In the ancient world, marriage wasn't based on love. So by calling on husbands to love their wives to the point of death must have turned the male chauvinism and misogyny of the ancient Roman world topsy-turvy.

Paul also writes: “Children, obey your parents…. And parents, do not provoke your children, else they may become discouraged.”

Actually, these passages are rather radical because the women in the Roman Empire had no say… and children were property! So for the women and children to be considered persons is quite revolutionary.

In family life, it’s all about mutual respect and love. In many ways it is what makes our families our home.

Marriage and family life isn’t about power or dominating another person; it’s about surrendering to one another for the good of all.

Christ calls us to tenderness. And this is certainly the rule for family life.

And as a result we can become a community of love for one another and for the world.

Unfortunately, there is much confusion about married love today. We see it all too often: someone is in love with being in love and then rushes into a relationship just be in a relationship. Others only plan a wedding – and fail to prepare for a life-long marriage commitment.

Too many folks are out are there looking for someone to come along and fix him or “complete” her; looking for Ms. or Mr. Right to fulfill his or her every desire, but no human person can do that. Until each of us seeks to become the right person each of us are called to be, then we will not likely be right for anyone else.

We are all aware that the members of our family today have many faces: the youth; the single person; the separated and divorced; the estranged; the single parent, often a single mother raising a child or children alone or with help from her parents; the divorced and remarried with blended families; the widowed; the elderly; and, yes, the addict and the incarcerated. Yet all are called to live as the family of God, loving and caring for all.

But let’s admit it, the Holy family did not have it easy either.

Joseph nearly divorced Mary. And Mary could have been stoned to death for her questionable pregnancy. Then the expectant couple had to travel 90 miles to Bethlehem for the Roman census and taxes. Where Jesus was born in a manger, in the shadows of a world dominated by Roman tyranny.

The first Christmas itself was marred with tragedy.

In the gospel King Herod felt his whole world threatened by an infant! So he ordered the slaughter of all the baby boys in Bethlehem – two years and under.

Saint Joseph is told by the angel of the Lord to protect his family, to flee Judea and go down to Egypt; he is obedient to the Word of God. Joseph teaches us by his silent witness that he is a man for others, willing to lay down his life for Mary and Jesus when he does as the angel instructed.

Yet each of us is called to protect our families and each other. Joseph’s example calls us to support the lives of others and protect others from evil and death. You and I are responsible for the care of each other.

There are many threats to family life today: alcohol, drugs, and violence, murder. (On Christmas Eve there was a murder and stabbing not far from here off of Washington Avenue).

There is a malignant spiritual force that seeks to destroy our lives, our souls, our families. There is certainly something diabolical in our current culture that has become so blatantly anti-life, anti-child, and anti-family.

We see marriages that are nothing more than a prom date gone wrong; and may last a day to a week, Christian marriage itself being redefined by society, reduced to mere emotional sentiment; purity ridiculed, human sexuality cheapened and debased; while others regard pregnancy as a disease or the gift of human life is treated as one more consumer good, a product that one has a right to purchase, manipulate, or destroy at whim.

For the children that are born, human personhood is now considered by a few something that should be earned, and only granted to those human beings that are desirable or meet certain physiological or cultural standards.

Yes, I hear the concerns, the anxiety, the discouragement from many of you: “It’s hard to believe what is happening in our world; sometimes it’s very difficult believe, to be hopeful in the face of such evil.” “How did we ever get so far away from kindness, tenderness, and love?’”

Yes, our culture has grown cold, cruel and violent, but there is hope! We are called to be the warmth of God, a light in the darkness, a tender loving presence in the midst of evil.

We have hope. Christ entered into our sinful world to redeem us! And this is our hope, the very same hope of the holy family.

The Sacrament of Matrimony is the foundation for the Christian family; the place where children first learn the love of God through the love of their parents. The family is the domestic church, “the Church at home,” where children first witness the faith proclaimed and lived as a community of grace and love, learning the art of forgiveness. Children also learn the dignity of work, participating in family chores and responsibilities, helping to make the house a home. 

Parents are the children’s first teachers in the faith. Families should gather for family prayer and worship regularly at the parish. Children should especially see their parents praying and; helping those in need, serving others, and forgiving each other. Often. Often.

The family that eats together stays together. How appropriate that the kitchen table is sometimes called the altar of the domestic church. For every home is a church and, just as we gather here at this altar to share in the feast of the love of God, when we gather around our kitchen tables, we find consolation and nourishment and prayer.

A family that eats together and prays together will then share their faith with others. As a result true joy will be a radiant light in the darkness, the tender loving presence of God mercifully welcoming all.

This is what it means to be a holy family.

Together, then, let us grow as holy families,

and as holy families we will become a holy Church,

a welcoming parish family and home for all.

Intercessions: Holy Family Sunday

That the example of the holy family may inspire the Church of God and all of the baptized to imitate the virtues of family life and extend us in acts of charity, we pray to the Lord…

For an increase in charity for those called to the vocation of marriage: may their love for each other and their openness to children, be a sign of Christ’s love for the Church, we pray to the Lord…

For children everywhere, especially those who are neglected and abused: that Christ in His mercy may free them from evil and distress, and that their abusive parents or guardians may have a change of heart, we pray to the Lord….

That Christ may guide the minds and hearts of all those who govern us: may they promote the common good, especially safeguarding the lives of families, children and the elderly, according to his will, we pray to the Lord….

For all of our parents, especially those who are ill or suffering mentally, emotionally, or physically; and all those who have no one left to comfort them, may we patiently and tenderly love them, we pray to the Lord….

That all of us might open our doors to those who have no family or those who are estranged from their families of origin, as Jesus taught us, we pray to the Lord….

For the lives of the unborn and newborn: that all might see the dignity of human life in Jesus the infant child, we pray to the Lord….

That the souls of our dearly beloved dead, especially _______: may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rejoice in the presence of Christ, we pray to the Lord…..

Surrender to a Peace that the World Cannot Give

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B

[The Readings of the day are Acts 9; 1 John 3:18-24; and Gospel of John, 15:1-8]

We all likely know the story of St. Paul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. It was not simply a conversion, but a total surrender! A flash of light rendered him completely blind and Paul heard the voice of Jesus say: Be my disciple.

But now Paul is in real trouble. He was Christian enemy number one; the nemesis to the early Jesus movement, but now also considered a heretic and traitor to Judaism.

So when he shows up in Jerusalem supposedly a disciple, we can understand the fear and anxiety of the church. After all, he was the one responsible for St. Stephen’s martyrdom.

Paul is an exile. He’s been proclaiming Jesus as Lord, but now he is in trouble for it, not only from the Pharisees and Jewish religious establishment, but now he is being held suspect by the Church, or at least the leaders, the early bishops we might say, and even Pope Peter.

Fear can truly arrest people. New ideas scare folks. Many people fear change. People are often suspicious of newcomers. It could be a fear of different language, different cultural backgrounds, or even a fear of others who become knowledgeable in matters of faith.

There are those who have great insecurity when people think and pray and even do theology differently or, dare I say, fight poverty and economic injustice. We know there are those who would like have us keep our faith in the sanctuary and not challenge the social, economic, and/or political order, yet we are called to forge ahead with the full gospel.

So how is Paul going to join the Church community? Who will help him convince the leaders that he really is one of them?

He meets Barnabas!

Barnabas was of the Jewish priestly class, a Sadducee, who had come to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus. Now this in itself is amazing because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead! But Barnabas was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit blew away all his old fears, fired his faith, and gave him the wisdom to proclaim the Good News of Christ!

And in Luke’s account, Barnabas not only believes in Christ, but he believes Paul’s story. And it is Barnabas that took charge of Paul and brought him to the other apostles. Barnabas is risking it all and surrenders his reputation for Paul’s sake. Barnabas loses himself all for the newcomer Paul, a former enemy of the faith. And when he does, the disciples receive Paul as their own.

But only because of Barnabas!

It took a Barnabas to bring the disciples and Paul together. 

Barnabas was a nickname. Bar-nabas means “child of encouragement’ or “child of Consolation”. Each of us are called to be encouragers, consolers, encouraging one another in the faith, in love, in charity, in hope!

But, more trouble came for Paul when he spoke with and debated with the Hellenists, the Greeks. They tried to kill him!

 There is a risk in discipleship. It is dangerous being a prophet, it’s dangerous being church!  

It may remind us of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker.  Dorothy was willing to risk her reputation for the sake of the gospel. She was not seen as a “good” Catholic by many in the church because of her subversive ministry to the despised, the powerless, downtrodden, and praying for and working for social and economic justice and peace.

Her bishop said to her, “Dorothy, there are those who say you and your companions are destroying the church.”

To which she replied: “I thought we were being the church.”

[And today there may be certain voices in the church who simply want parishioners who pray, pay, and obey, but we are called to be more than Catholic bobble-heads!

Our faith must be a lived reality, following Jesus Christ as a way of life!  

So we have an inkling of why some religious people wanted to kill Paul. To the religious establishment, he was not only ruining Judaism, but he was ruining the Christian Way. He was breaking boundaries, even allowing women leaders and Gentiles to become followers of Christ.

In Paul’s letters he called certain women his fellow laborers and co-workers in the gospel. There were those who were very critical of his allowing women leadership positions in the Church. And [my wife said], don’t think the women were just darning the apostles’ socks or carrying their well-water either.

We only have to think of the thousands of religious sisters  and lay Catholic women who are workers in the vineyard, teaching, comforting the sick and dying, prisoners, and assisting the immigrant, the hungry, the forgotten and the hopeless.

Really, it all began with Mary of Nazareth, who proclaimed: “Let it be done to me according to your Word!”

And later it was Mary Magdalene took the message of the 

Resurrection of Christ to the fearful apostles hiding behind locked doors in the all important upper room where all theological decisions were being made!

[Or just one example among many, I could tell the story of St. Catherine of Siena – a doctor of the Church – who helped restore the church’s unity, but alas, that would be another homily.]

Suffice it to say, in the Christian community women were leaders. 

As they are still today.

As for St. Paul, after the Greeks tried to kill him, the disciples send him to Tarsus, his home, where he could process his entire experience. Sort of a retreat of sorts. Paul's faith and ideas were a real challenge to Peter and the boys.

But what is so interesting in the first reading is that despite all the fear surrounding Paul and the desire to kill him, Luke immediately tells us that THE CHURCH WAS AT PEACE. Peace? 

Really? The Church was at peace. How??? 

How can there be peace with so much distrust, fear, insecurity, and suspicion?

Where would this peace come from? How can there be peace?

Luke tells us it was “with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.”

St. John tells us in his gospel that there is a peace that only Christ Jesus can give.

So how can we as individuals and as a church community be at peace? 

Well, what did Barnabas do?

Barnabas took the time to listen. He listened to Paul’s story. Barnabas made himself vulnerable. Barnabas surrendered his own concerns for the concern of another. Barnabas reconciled Paul with the church. Barnabas did not judge Paul.

Barnabas let go of himself…

And WHAT BARNABAS DID WE ARE CALLED TO DO.

For to be at peace is to be in Christ.

And Barnabas had found that peace.

And Barnabas shared that peace with Peter and Paul and all the church.

Because, you see, Barnabas was rooted in the vine of Christ.

You and I are called to be the Barnabases in others’ people lives.

Yes, there is a risk in ministry, yet Barnabas’ example shows us that to be church means to be at peace even amidst conflicts and differences.

With such encouraging words, can we imagine the great things the Lord will do through us, his weak human instruments, if we would but trust in Christ, being fruitful branches of Christ, wherever we are, and to whomever we encounter, regardless what some may say?!

Christ promises us that he will remain in us if we remain in him!

We hear the Word and take it in, and allow it to form us, and then when we approach this altar and receive the Eucharist, Christ will dwell within us in an intimate way, so that we might be Christ to one another.

As St. Paul wrote: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

So, we pray, O Lord, make us your branches like Barnabas to be your message of mercy to everyone we meet, to those who think they have no one, and let them know that there is a living Church community they can call home, where they can be tended to and nourished and allowed to grow.

O God, give us the courage to risk all and be like Barnabas, children of encouragement – to one another – and to a fearful world – that we might lead others to that peace which is beyond all our understanding and is found in you alone. Amen.