Holy Family Sunday - 2019

As a child my favorite Christmas gifts were the Erector sets by Meccano. One Christmas a model steam engine was added to my collection – it was going to be the best Christmas ever. But on that very day it broke down and failed to work – joy quickly turned to the saddest Christmas ever. Broken gifts are not uncommon at this time, that is why in the days after Christmas shopping for “Krazy Glue” is a big item. The sadness experienced at Christmas can not only be over broken toys but over broken families as well. That is why this feast of the Holy Family is of such importance. For the Second Reading in today’s liturgy the Church chooses a selection from St. Paul’s letter to Colossians. Here Paul lays out a description of the “krazy glue-of grace” that holds families together. “As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”  Now you might say to St. Paul, “That’s easy for you to say but you don’t know my family.” – but God does. But these are virtues of grace that Paul has listed, and they flow from the Holy Spirit into our hearts through prayer. “As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,” - first God brings us into His family, broken as we are and loves us into life. And in this communion with God we are healed and made holy, part of God’s beloved family. Now we can begin to bring this “krazy glue-of grace” into our families and start to heal what is broken within them. Let us be certain of this, if history has anything to say, man alone is not going to heal this broke world we live in. If we break away from the Family of God what hope do we have? Only when people realize this and return to the Father’s House will the remedy be found. St. Paul concludes: “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Then he adds three keys: And let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be Thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly; Only then filled with God’s love, will we be able to: “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom;  Paul ends with these words, let us take them home to our families today. “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

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PRAYER OF BLESSING O God, you have created us in love and saved us in mercy, and through the bond of marriage you have established the family and willed that it should become a sign of Christ's love for his Church. Shower your blessings on these families gathered here in your name. Enable those who are joined by one love to support one another by their fervor of spirit and devotion to prayer. Make them responsive to the needs of others and witnesses to the faith in all they say and do. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

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