Holy Family
Fr.Gus Carter
12 /26/ 04

The Feast of the Holy Family brings to mind that Luke's Gospel portrays the Blessed Virgin Mary as the model of all Christians. Mary represents the potential the Lord has given to all of us. She represents the fulfillment possible for each of us. Luke suggests that we could say to each person in this church, "Hail, full of grace." The word "grace" comes from a Greek word that means: charm, attractive~ness, beauty or what creates radiance or harmony.

When we consider our human bodies, we realize that human physiology is awesome. For instance, scientists estimate that the number of cells in the human brain range from 100 billion to a trillion. These trillions of cells store our experiences and coordinate our behavior in phenomenal ways. The physical facts hint at our spiritual richness.

St. Teresa of Avila wrote that it is a pity that we appreciate so little our marvelous souls. If we only knew who and what we are, we would not treat ourselves so badly. Most of us love to be in contact with heroism and human generosity. These reflect capacities that are within ourselves. Perhaps we can remember one or more persons who had extraordinary influence on us for good. We want to let that kind of memory help us to appreciate the grace in all of us. We have, in the power of our faith, the possibility of knowing in God-like ways. We have, through the grace of God, the possibility of loving with God-like capability.

The Feast of the Holy Family stresses that the family constitutes the womb of living and is the testing place of love. In Scripture God most commonly expresses love for us through analogies of the family. God is our Father. God is our spouse. We are God's children. The Word of God is our brother. One of the most touching passages in Scripture is when God is speaking to His people and says, "Could a mother forget her baby? ...Even if your father and mother forget you, I will never forget you."
In the family we come in contact with and we develop our God-like potential. Raising a family is one of the most challenging endeavors people will ever get involved in. We realize the tensions within families, the tensions within ourselves that stress our living. We have problems of understanding and communication. How hard it is sometimes even to get together. So whenever and however we can, we need to strengthen and treasure esteem for family life.

The themes running through today's readings of Sirach and Colossians call us to mutual respect. Children respect your parents. Parents respect your children. Spouses respect each other. Mutual respect consists in a deep reverence for the personhood of the people closest to us. We must see those around us as sacred gifts from God. We need to create what is sometimes called a dialogue of appreciation. Consider the variety of human facial expressions. They hint at human versatility and human adaptability. Our hands remind us of human creativity. Our legs speak of mobility. Reflecting on these in human nature, we can grow in our esteem for ourselves, grow to appreciate what a gift we are ourselves.

Reverence makes it possible for a family to survive and flourish despite great challenges. In our reverence we find resources to love vigorously, not lukewarmly. In reverence we discover our capacity to be joyfully committed to each other, not to feel as though we are bound by onerous obligations. All these things point out the shame it is that we spend so much time seeing and talking about the defects and weaknesses of others. We need to consider in our own lives how we may be undermining grace by our constant criticism and various kinds of abuse.

It is a great blessing to be thankful for God's creation. We must also appreciate who we are and who the people around us are. "Hail Mary, full of grace..." provides a daily reminder of the graciousness God has bestowed on each of us. "Full of grace" calls us to reflect on, to hold in our minds that God's grace and God's goodness surround us and penetrate each one of us every hour, every day.

In teaching religion there are those who advise having children look into a mirror, have them look at their own faces and marvel at God's beautiful ways and lavish abundance. We all have eyes, ears, noses, mouths and yet each one of us is distinct, different. We become aware that God fashioned each individual, has a special plan for each of us. When we look in the mirror we can pray to thank God for ourselves, to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of each of us, come to understand and to love the beauty of those close to us.