Deacon Ed Shoener,  Holy Family, Year C

It is the start of the Christmas Season.  A Season of Hope.

It seems right that we begin the Christmas season with the feast of the Holy Family.  We all have great hope for our families. Hope rooted in the desire for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness.

So, what words come to your mind when you think of family?

Maybe these words come to mind: Marriage, tenderness, happiness, care, closeness, support and belonging.

Or perhaps this second list of words comes to mind: divorce, anger, abuse, loneliness, hurts and pain

For many it is a mix of both sets of words – and perhaps all of them at the same time.

Our families are complicated, aren’t they?  Christ knows our families – our troubles and our joys.

As Pope Francis has said: “No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love”

We live in a fallen and broken world.  Sin and evil – and especially our own pride - can disrupt our families. We need to accept each other – and forgive each other, and ourselves, when we fall short.

We need to keep from judging harshly those who Pope Francis describes as ‘living in situations of frailty”. 

For example, so many of us and our family members struggle with a mental health challenge – anxiety, depression, mood disorders or perhaps an addiction. And the pandemic has only made these conditions more difficult.

These are situations of frailty that challenge our ability to love.  Yet, like Christ, sometimes we must love without the demand for a cure.

To love is to will the good of the other. Understanding that definition of love is critical. Never withhold that kind of love – no matter how difficult a family situation may become.

That is why Marriage is a sacrament.  To strengthen us as a couple and to in turn strengthen our families. Christ dwells in our marriages - if we let him.

Christ gives spouses hope so that we can take up our crosses, to rise when we fall, to forgive each other. To bear each other’s burdens. To lead each other to the gates of heaven. 

Christ sees our marriages as sacred. And from a graced and sacred marriage - a graced and sacred family can grow.

The Church respects the sacredness of the family. That is one of the reasons that it encourages the baptism of babies.  We want our children to know and love Christ from their earliest days.

So that all children will, like today’s Gospel said of Christ as he was growing up, “advance in wisdom and age and favor before God and man”.

I love the part of the baptism rite when we present a candle that represents the light of Christ and say:  Parent and godparents this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.  This child is to walk always as a child of the light.    When the Lord comes, may this child go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.

That says so much about hope, family and the passing on of the faith. 

You can see this hope in the images of the life of the Holy Family in this Cathedral. Look to the side altar over there, up behind the manger. 

There is the painting of the death of St. Joseph with his wife Mary and Jesus, surrounded by the Angels. It is worth noting that the painting is directly behind the manger – one image showing the Holy Family experiencing the joy of birth and new life and the other image showing the Holy Family consoling each other at the moment of death.

You know, many of us are grieving the loss of a loved one.  Christmas can be an especially poignant time of the year.  For those of us that are missing a loved one, we pray for our loved one that they too are welcomed into heaven to live in eternity with the Holy Family. 

And it is important to remember that far too many people are estranged and separated from family.  If you, or someone you know, is living in such a situation, know that no one is without a family in this world: the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially for those who “labor and are heavy laden” with the burdens of loneliness and isolation. 

You are always welcome here.

So, in Christ, we always live in Hope with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Desiring the kingdom of heaven and eternal life for our families.

It is hope that sustains our marriages.  It is because of hope that we baptize our babies; in hope we raise our children in the faith; in hope we pray for our deceased loved ones. 

Pray for your family, pray for your neighbor’s family, pray for my family and all families – pray that our families will be made strong; pray that our families will be made Holy.  Amen.