Families of Faith
Somehow it is difficult to celebrate this Feast of the Holy Family without shuttering at comparisons to our own families. This is especially true when we picture Jesus (the Son of God), his mother (without sin) and father (with monumental humility). Is it any wonder we come up just a little short on the comparison. The image of family at Christ’s presentation in the temple with its the observance of what was a common religious ritual jettisons out of reach with Simeon’s glowing prophetic proclamation. Perhaps we could look at this feast from a different perspective. What if we took the second reading as our point of departure rather than the first with its admonition to children or the Gospel with its less than average family. The first half of that second reading from the letter to the Colossians speaks not so much of a natural family as it does a family of faith. We normally speak of ourselves as “parishioners,” but that term is far too institutional to inspire what Paul is after in his letter to the Colossians. In fact we know that Paul was writing to the Colossians for just that reason -- some in the Colossian church had begun to see themselves as separated from others within their community. They had become “elitists.” Paul calls them to a conversion of equality.So the image of a family is a far more effective way of seeing a community of faith than the image of an institution. In that light Colossians speaks of reverence and honor, care and consideration, kindness and patience for those beyond our natural families. Paul encourages mercy, humility, meekness, forgiveness, thankfulness--and above all else love--for those beyond our obligations to spouse, parents children. What about the Holy Family of our parish community. The family of Christ the King in East Cleveland which I was honored to serve as pastor lived up to these challenges.Whenever infants were baptized at the 11:00 o’clock Sunday liturgy we welcomed the child in a powerful ritual in which the members of the congregation were invited to come forward to bless the child during the singing of the Gloria. Young and old, parents and children, relatives and strangers processed with delight as they welcomed that child into the Christ the King family. Just prior to that ritual, the congregation was asked if they would be “a family in Christ Jesus” to the parents and child. Their coming forward in blessing was a sacrament of that commitment. Now that’s a Holy Family.Those who knew Tim recognized the rapid progression of the cancer. As we tried to fathom the suffering his family experienced, we prayed for him as any parish would. (He died at as the faith community was praying for him on that Sunday.) But what was most indicative of a “family” was that no one came to the regular eight o’clock Mass on the day of the funeral. We had to cancel the daily Mass because everyone who regularly attended that Mass understood that they belonged with his mother Angela and her family at Tim's Mass of Christian Burial. Now that’s a Holy Family.On this very feast in 1997 two couples came forward to announce their intention to marry during the coming year and to be blessed by their parish family. They came to the Sunday liturgy because this was their family of faith, and what they were planning to do in 1998 would nourish and strengthen each one of us. The Church’s teaching on marriage makes it very clear that the love between husband and wife is to be a sacrament -- a living sign -- of Christ’s love for his people. That worshipping community acknowledged this in that simple ritual. Now that’s a Holy Family.This model of parish as family rather than institution can lead any faith community in ways to be a Holy Family: • Introducing yourself to one person you don’t know by name each Sunday. • Not acting like strangers and sitting so far apart at the Sunday Eucharist. • Sharing your faith by becoming involved with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
• Bringing your own family to a parish or community event that aids the poor. • Supporting by your presence the activities of the children of the parish. • Involving yourself and your family with the parish’s youth ministry. • Inviting a family member or friend to return to the worshipping community.I think you get the point. A parish that is a Family of Faith has many opportunities to be a Holy Family. By some estimates as many as 60% to 70% are estranged from our parish churches. The image of a loving, nonjudgmental family might just be too tempting for them to resist! Perhaps this feast will help us find more ways to be a Holy Family, so that we can all grow in wisdom, age and grace before God and the world.