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[Greetings, Church fans! Here is the homily. Actually, the first part of the homily. The rest deals with some issue particular to the parish. You can catch the whole Mass on our Facebook page or just the homily on our YouTube channel here. ]

Long before the FaceBook post or the meme, my mother, (who turns 90 this weekend) loved to put little framed quotations all over the house. Such things as: “A little explained, a little endured, a little forgiven—the quarrel is cured.”  or “Engage brain before putting mouth in gear.”  Of course with our family heritage, Irish sayings held a place of honor. The Irish, being a great and noble race of people, have many wonderful expressions.  My favorite in the house is this: “May the love of God warm your heart like a great fire, so that a friend may come and warm himself there.”

       I cannot celebrate Pentecost without this saying coming to mind. When we understand what and who the Holy Spirit is, it makes a lot of sense.  

       As Christians, we believe in the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—one God, three persons. It only makes sense if you think of it terms of relationship. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.  The dynamic intensity of this relationship, by its very nature, radiates out beyond the Father and Son, much like the heat of a great fire. But we don’t just feel its effects, we are loved ourselves.  We are invited to participate fully in the power of this love, and to invite others. 

       A good marriage also helps us understand. The two spouses love one another, body and soul.  The best expression of the intensity of this relationship, is by its very nature live-giving, and nine months later, you may have to give it a name! But it’s not just children. While I was growing up, my parents were always inviting other people to share in the life and love of our home. There were always neighbor kids and friends and neighbors who were enlivened by the relationship my parents had. Their love, such as it was, invited others to be a part of it and share in its joys, its sorrows, its triumphs and its tragedies. The love of God warmed their hearts like a great fire, and many were warmed in its glow as they were invited to be a part of that relationship.

       The Holy Spirit  is nothing less than the power of the love of God alive in the heart of every Christian.  The God who is perfect relationship and perfect communion invites us to share fully in the intensity of that dynamic love. This, I believe is one of the most profound ways that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  We are made for communion, for that perfect relationship at the level of our very being with God and others.  The gifts and the fruits of this relationship we call the Holy Spirit, are readily available to all through the sacraments of the Church.

       Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.          

Here is the text. As always, you can see the video of homily on our YouTube site here. The whole Mass is on our Facebook page here.

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We begin with the blessing of the palms and the commemoration of Christ’s Triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then all of a sudden, we are reading the Passion of Mark.  In less than 15 minutes we go from

Palm Sunday, more properly known as “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion” really lends itself to a kind of liturgical whiplash.

       “Hosannah to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

       to “My God!  My God!  Why have you abandoned me?!”

       From the palm which is a symbol of victory

       To the Cross, an instrument of execution.

How are we to make sense of it all?

In order to do so, we need a good understanding of what it means to be redeemed by Christ by his suffering and death on the Cross. 

First, what does it mean to be redeemed?

       In the time of Christ, right up to the end of the middle of the 19^th century, the idea of “debt bondage” was a rather common practice.

       Briefly stated, if you ran up a personal debt that you could not pay, then you could be sentenced by the civil courts to be sold into slavery to your creditor until such time as your debt was paid. 

We see this elsewhere in the scriptures in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. Remember the scene?

       “That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

       When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.”

       Later, in Europe, this practice continued right up until the middle of the 19^th century with a system of debtors prisons. Your sentence depended on the amount you owed and you were not released until your debt was paid to the last penny.

       Federal debtors prisons were outlawed in the United States in 1833 and in England in 1867.  But they still exist in certain parts of the world.

       But even today we will use the phrase, “Paying your debt to society” when referring to those serving time for criminal offenses. 

So it was in the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. Of course, the Romans, being very efficient, documented everything.

       So let’s say you owed a debt you could not pay, your creditor brought you before the magistrate, you were convicted. 

       One of the first things they did was draw up the legal document on parchment or papyrus recording the nature of your offense, the details, and what it would take to redeem your debt.  This document was known as your mandate or “mandatum.”  It might look a little like this:

       [Hold up the Mandatum}

Then, you were led off by the bailiff and cast into bondage. How could you get out of the situation?  How could you be redeemed and set free?

There were three ways that you could be redeemed:

       1. You could spend the proscribed amount of time in bondage.

       2. You could shorten this time by paying in blood and submitting to torture. Of course, if your creditor didn’t like you, or the prison was a bit overcrowded, they might do this to you anyway, just to move things along. Or, 

       3. If you had a rich uncle or other friends or relatives, they could pay your debt for you and you would be released. 

       Now, let’s take this little scenario and apply it to the situation of fallen humanity.

With the disobedience of humanity in the fall, SIN entered the world. 

       Humanity flexed its infantile moral muscles and asserted its independence from the Creator.

       Humanity, of course, was perfectly free to do so, but such independence from God comes at a price.

       As St. Paul and many others has surmised, this price for original and all sin…is suffering and death.

        Even the casual observer of the human condition can see that this is true in this life, as it is in the next.

       Who of us has not suffered because of our own carelessness or sins

       or the carelessness or sins of another,

              sometimes with fatal consequences?

       Sin is real.

       And death is real.

Like the man in debtors’ prison, humanity found ourselves owing a debt we could and cannot pay, eternal in its magnitude.

       1. Thus by our sin, we found ourselves sentenced to a debt bondage for eternity.

       2. Suffering in this life and the next in separation from God.

       3.  Unless…unless someone with the means could pay that debt for us.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary, Son of God,

       Who by taking on a human nature, was able to pay the debt of suffering and death which is the price of sin.

       Who by his divine nature had the means to do so.  

Jesus, the Christ, who by his suffering and death on the Cross, redeemed a fallen humanity and reconciled all creation to the Father.

“Christ paid a debt he didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.” 

The price for our sins has been paid.  And we are free.

Now, the liturgical whiplash of Palm Sunday makes sense.

By his suffering and death on the Cross that Christ paid the price for our sin. We are redeemed in the blood of Christ. 

       In the Roman Empire, your debt was paid, by time, by suffering or by anorther, they took your mandatum and wrote on it in big red letters.  REDEMPTUS EST, ‘He or she is redeemed.”

       And you carried it around with you.

       So that if someone should challenge you, “Say, aren’t you the guy that welched on your debt to Wally?”

       You could whip out your mandatum, show it to them and say, “I have been redeemed.” 

You know, we each have a mandatum. It looks like this:

       [Show baptism certificate.]

It’s called your baptism certificate, and it reads like this:

       [Read baptism certificate.]

It is now the Cross, not the palm that is the ultimate symbol of victory

       The palm spoke only of earthly victory in battle.

       The Cross stands as witness and speaks for all eternity of the sacrifice which won for us the victory over sin and death.

       We are redeemed in the blood of Christ.

Hey, Friends! There is a lot in this homily which is not in the synopsis below. To get the whole talk, check it out either on our YouTube channel here or the whole Mass on our Facebook Page here.

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The Gospel of John is a lot like a big bowl of steaming Irish stew. You can see that there is some yummy goodness in there, but it is not until you actual start to stir it up that all sorts of  hidden delights come to the surface. So it is with this week’s gospel passage where Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus. There are four different ingredients, but the broth that holds them together is belief in the Son of Man.

The first ingredient is a teaching on his Passion (3:14,15). Why must the Son of Man be lifted up like the serpent in the desert?  “So that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

The second is the classic John 3:16-17. God loved the world so much he gave his only son.  Why?  “So that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” 

The third ingredient shows us that Jesus came to save us, not to condemn us. How do we avoid condemnation?  “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned.” This seems harsh at first glance, but we must acknowledge that God does not do violence to us. Belief cannot be forced. So strangely enough, self-inflicted condemnation does happen. It’s a sad thing to realize that God does not condemn anyone to hell. Everyone in hell has freely chosen to be there. He goes on to explain this. There are those who simply choose the darkness over the light so that their sins may not come to light. This may be due to pride, stubbornness, or any number of things.

The final ingredient is an encouragement for us who believe in Jesus to live in the light of the truth.  He comes preaching the Kingdom, but more importantly he comes preaching himself. It is belief in Jesus that is our ticket to the Kingdom; by whom we are saved from condemnation; and with whom we enter into eternal, unapproachable light.

[Deacon Mick gave a good one today. As always you can check out the whole Mass here. And hey, I’ve also learned how to post just the homilies on YouTube. You can do that here.

The readings today

address the sickness and suffering of people that

filled a typical day in the life of Jesus. 

In one degree or another,

sickness and suffering are universal experiences.

And never so much as in today’s world.

You might say suffering is very democratic (with a small ‘d”). 

It doesn’t come only to the selfish;

it doesn’t come only to the sinful;

it doesn’t come only to people who are evil. 

It comes to the young and to the old,

to the wise and to the foolish,

to saints and to sinners.

Our first reading today

from the Old Testament Book of Job

is sometimes called “Job’s Lament.” 

He says,

“My pain is more than I can bear. 

I can’t sleep at night. 

I shall not see happiness again.” 

Job’s lament

is a cry we all feel within ourselves when

we became seriously ill or

when someone we love becomes ill or dies.

When we read in the Scriptures about

individuals speaking with God

and their mystical experiences,

we may or may not be able to relate to that, but

we can all connect to human suffering. 

Maybe our hurt is not physical but emotional

like a marriage in distress or a friends betrayal

or being bullied in school. 

When we feel pain,

regardless of the source,

we want to join Job and say.

“I shall never see happiness again/“

Into this world of suffering and pain comes Jesus. 

In today’s Gospel reading,

the lord heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then

people with all sorts of illnesses. 

In fact,

he heals so many people that

the Lord has to find time alone in the desert for prayer.

Some people are healed physically and others

are healed spiritually by the power of Jesus’ teaching. 

Jesus sees that

the deepest healing we all need is spiritual. 

That’s why the Lord moves on to preach in another town.

People are healed spiritually

when they are given the strength to accept their condition in life,

even to make their suffering a place of strength,

depth and compassion for others. 

That’s a powerful, healing grace because

suffering can make us bitter, isolated, and self-absorbed. 

It’s a sign of the touch of Christ

when our suffering gives us depth of understanding,

spiritual strength and compassion for others.

Now, this may sound like ambo rhetoric

until we see it happen in human lives

as people in the deepest suffering become like Christ. 

In their suffering,

they see a deep truth about the world. 

They see that

ours is not the perfect world and

we are not the perfect people

portrayed in television advertising.

They see that life

is not filled with happy endings as in the movies. 

Through suffering we experience the fragility of life

and see what is important

and how we all need the grace and redemption of Christ.

When people unite their suffering,

which is always a sign of our broken world,

with the cross of Christ,

they make their own pain

an occasion for spiritual victory for themselves

and for others.

SO – It’s in this context that

we can best understand

the Sacrament of Healing,

the Sacrament of the Sick,

the Anointing of the Sick. 

This is the sacrament that

for centuries was given to people who were seriously ill. 

Eventually, it became limited to those who were dying

and then used to be called the last anointing

or the “Extreme Unction”  or last rites. 

But the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

is meant to be a sacrament of spiritual healing, strength and peace. 

And so the Church has restored it

as a sacrament not just for those at the point of death

but for all those who are seriously ill.

It can also be administered to those over 55 years of age. 

I guess they feel we are so close to death after that age that

we should not take any chances.

But seriously,

as in all  the sacraments,

the Lord Jesus is present in this sacrament

at a time in our life when we need him very much. 

When we are seriously ill,

we are challenged in our faith. 

We need the special help of God’s grace

in this time of anxiety so that

we will not be broken in spirit, or feel isolated and alone.

The Anointing of the Sick

gives us the courage and grace

to hold to our faith in the face of this challenge. 

It helps us see that

when we think we are alone, we are not. 

It helps us see that when our body is weak,

our soul can be strong. 

It provides healing that

is sometimes physical, sometimes emotional and always spiritual.

When we feel that

no one could possibly understand what we are going through,

Jesus joins us in our suffering

and turns a moment of desperation

into a moment of conversion.

My brothers and sisters,

don’t wait until a loved one is expiring

or lapsing into unconsciousness

to call a priest. 

When someone is seriously ill,

he or she needs this sacrament

when they can hear the words of the prayers

and make those prayers their own. 

Illness can be frightening. 

The Anointing of the Sick assures us that

Jesus is with us. 

He is there to protect us

from the doubts and anxiety that plagued Job. 

He is there to give us

the courage and grace to journey with him

and even,

even to make our illness an instrument of salvation

to ourselves and to others so that

whatever illness may do to our body,

Jesus, through the Sacrament of the Sick

will bring clarity, peace and dignity to our soul.

[Hey, Church fans! How do you know the faith you were taught was not made up by some guy named Ned in the Middle Ages? Your answer is below.

Don’t forget, you can always see the homily on our parish Facebook page by clicking here. ]

     When I am doing lectio divina, my meditations will often fall to the more obscure references in a particular scripture passage. For example, in today’s gospel, we are told that Jesus “taught with authority and not like their scribes.”         Which begs the question—how did the scribes teach? One gets the impression that they were a bit mealy-mouthed. They probably had lots of footnotes. 

       Jesus is different. He does not cite any sources. Rather, he comes preaching himself and the Kingdom. As the Incarnate Word of God, he IS the primary source of revelation. There is no higher authority.

       The expulsion of the demon, done by his own authority, further drives the point home. He appeals to no one. As the divine second person of the Holy Trinity Jesus teaches and preaches and heals and expels demons

       …on his own authority. 

       The people in the synagogue, including his disciples, don’t realize this yet of course. That will come later. In the meantime, they are left to wonder, “What is this all about?”

       To Mark’s mind, it is all about the authority of Christ over all things “in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.” (Phil 2:10)

       So here is a question for you.

       Did that authority of Christ end with his ascension into heaven? 

       The obvious answer is, “No.”

       At Pentecost, Christ passed on this same authority to St. Peter and the apostles and to their successors, the bishops. Thus, the Church teaches and sanctifies and governs with the same authority of Christ.

       Why is this so important?

       Well, let me ask you another question.  It’s one you may have even asked yourself at one time.  I know I did, when I was about 15.  The question is this:

       “How do you know?

       How do you know that the faith that you have been taught is authentic – that it is the same faith taught by the Apostle Peter, by the Apostle Paul? 

       How do you know it just wasn’t MADE UP in the middle ages by some guy named Ned Jones, or in the 19^th century by some fellow named Joe Smith?

       What is your guarantee?

       As a believing Christian, it is imperative that you know that your faith is authentic.

So how would you go about getting that certainty?

       If I were you, I would want to get as close to the source as possible. 

       I would try to find out if the very Church that Christ founded was still around,

       and once found them,

              and I would want to make sure that they had                                     some very good safeguards in place

              to make sure that what they taught today is                                  exactly what was taught then;

       Because if they did, they would be the only ones who would have the authority to authentically teach and tell their own story.

       These would be the present day witnesses to the Risen Christ.

       You deserve that kind of certainty…

And here you have it.

       My dear friends in Christ in St. Patrick’s Parish and those who are watching on the livestream or the recorded wherever you are.

       You are indeed sitting in the midst of or watching the local expression of the very community founded by Christ.

       For us in the Roman Catholic Church, we trace our faith in a direct line all the back to the Apostles Peter and Paul, authentic witnesses of the resurrection.

       Paul, whose life was changed forever when  encountered the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus and soon began to proclaim the very Faith he was persecuting,

       Who went to Arabia, back to Damascus, then to Jerusalem, where he his teaching was affirmed by the Apostles,

       then on four missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean, and finally taken as a prisoner to Rome, where he witnessed to the faith, even under house arrest.

       And where, in the persecution of Nero, he was beheaded, outside the city at Tre Fontane, and where his grave is located under the high altar of the Basilica that bears his name.

       Peter, who was with Christ from the beginning, who recognized him as the Messiah, who walked out across the water to Christ in the raging storm, who denied him three times and was three times restored.

       Who at Pentecost received the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the risen Christ to the crowd with such conviction that 3000 were added that day.

       Who healed the crippled man on the steps of the Temple.

       Who led the Church in Antioch and then the Church in Rome for 25 years.

       Who in the persecution of 64 AD was cast into the Mamertine Prison and then crucified upside down on the spine of the Circus of Nero at the foot of the Vatican Hillside and was buried in a simple grave in the necropolis nearby.

       Where today, the Basilica that bears his name is built so that the high altar is directly over his simple grave.

       St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, whose authority was passed to his successor Linus,

       and Linus to Cletus,

              and Cletus to Clement

and so on, in an unbroken line of apostolic succession,

       to a man named Francis, the 265th direct successor          to the Apostle Peter,

              whose first task is to hold and teach the Catholic Faith, whole and entire, without corruption

       who second task, in communion with the bishops

              the successors of the apostles,

       is to interpret and proclaim that Faith in the modern world.

       So what’s our guarantee here in 99504?

       Well, here in the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, we have an archbishop named Andrew Bellisario, who was appointed by the very same Francis, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ,

       Before he came to us, he was subjected to a process of scrutiny that lasted almost a year and a half.

       In due time, the personal representative of the Holy Father, the Papal Nuncio, came to Anchorage for the installation.

       And before Archbishop Bellisario was installed, the question was asked of him, “Do you have the Papal Mandate?”

       What the heck is the papal mandate?

       Simply put, it is a letter from the Holy Father, to the people of the Archdiocese stating without question that the man who currently holds the office of Archbishop of Anchorage-Juneau holds and teaches the same faith the Church has held and taught and preserved since Christ founded it. 

       The Nuncio held up the letter from the Holy Father for all to see.

       If you would like, you can go to the Archbishop’s office and take a look at it. 

       This papal mandate is your guarantee that the faith you have received as a Catholic in 99504 in 2021 is the same faith as the apostle Paul, as the apostle Peter.

Jesus taught with authority. 

       The Church teaches with the same authority.

              The Apostolic Succession is our guarantee that                    the witness we have received is true. 

       May our lives reflect that truth.

[Howdy, Church fans! Today, Deacon Mick took us on a very good meditation on some various aspects of discipleship as presented in the Sunday readings. As always, you can see the video of the Mass by clicking here.

Our readings today are about calls to discipleship. 

They focus on the dynamics,

the dignity and the drama

of living and being a follower of Christ.

The first reading

from the Old Testament Book of Samuel

describes God calling young Samuel

in the middle of the night. 

In the Gospel,

Jesus calls Andrew

and it’s Andrew who brings Peter to Jesus

for the first time. 

Here we see something the dynamics of discipleship

that still continues today.

Some people

are called directly by God like Samuel. 

They can say,

“Here I am Lord, I have heard you calling in the night.” 

Most of us, however,

have been brought to the Lord

by people like Andrew in today’s Gospel reading. 

We were baptized as infants

and brought to the church by others. 

We grew up in the Church

and were taught truths of the faith by others. 

We were encouraged

to follow Christ in everything we do by others. 

The Lord called us through others

just as surely as he called Samuel in the middle the night. 

There was an ‘Andrew’ in our life that

the Lord used to reach us, to teach us and to guide us. 

That’s something of the dynamics of discipleship,

how people receive the call. 

Some receive it directly in the middle of the night;

most receive it through others.

Then —— there is the dignity of discipleship.

What prompted Jesus to call Andrew & Peter?

What did Jesus see in Peter and in Andrew? 

Of course, Jesus saw them as they were but

I believe — he also saw what they could become. 

When we look at people,

we often see them only for what they are right now. 

Jesus saw more. 

He saw their potential.

Show a entrepreneur an empty city corner

and he sees a future store. 

Show a sculptor a stone

and he visualizes the image it can be. 

That’s how the Lord looked at people. 

The Lord does the same today. 

He looks at each of us

and through the Church ——

he shows us what we can become. 

That’s the dignity of our discipleship.

Finally there is the drama of discipleship

in how we give witness to the teachings of Christ.

St. Paul is writing about this in today’s second reading. 

Unfortunately, we live, as did the Corinthians,

in a sex-saturated society,

a society that trivializes the sacrament of marriage

a culture —— uncaring for the lives the unborn and the elderly. 

Today, I want join with St. Paul

to focus on the dignity of the body,

of how sexuality gets trivialized.

Now, some say that the Catholic Church is preoccupied with sex. 

In fact, it’s our society that is preoccupied with sex. 

Sex is a subject of humor, discussion, gossip,

entertainment, novels, movies, news,

all the media and advertisements. 

A person can’t watch television

for a brief period of time

without encountering sexual innuendo in some form.

And let’s not even begin the discussion

about the excess of pornography on the internet.

The proliferation of “secular experts”

and books about so-called “sexual liberation”

have all left society in shambles

and families broken apart. 

This liberation has taken down politicians,

religious leaders, and the average man and woman. 

This liberation has made multiple marriages & divorces acceptable

and living together before marriage

the common reality in this sex addicted world.

My brothers and sisters,

St. Paul is teaching us about

sexual responsibility and sexual integrity. 

Sex is not a demon. 

It’s part of human life,

but only a part. 

There are other,

more important dimensions to what a person is

and the most important is our baptism in faith,

our vocation to our life as Christians,

and our call to discipleship. 

Every part of our life

needs to be integrated in our vocation as a Catholic Christians. 

Our commitment has to be complete and total.

Our Catholic faith, belief and teachings

are not a Catholic cafeteria or buffet line

where we can pick and choose what we like

because a secular society says it’s OK!

If Jesus is not Lord of every part of our life,

we can end up as a spiritual Jekyll and Hyde. 

We pray one way and live another.

Our witness to the world today

must be that the seal of love,

the expression of love

belongs to those who have made a public

lifelong commitment to each other

that we call marriage. 

Outside of marriage,

the sexual expression of love is irresponsible and wrong. 

That’s the immorality to which St. Paul refers

and it’s as common today as in Corinth. 

My brothers and sisters,

the key to happiness – to maturity

comes not from sexual experience alone

but from the commitment, the fidelity,

the loyalty, and the family life

it was designed by God to imply. 

Not only has sex without marriage not brought happiness,

it has led to the use, abuse and distortion of people’s lives. 

And history has shown us that

a degeneration of morality

has lead to the downfall of almost every major empire or civilization.

In this kind of world,

we disciples of Christ

must bring a message of hope

and respect for sexuality. 

We must believe and profess that

our bodies are more than biological units. 

They are temples of the HolySpirit.  

Here, at Mass,

the Church calls us to the truth that

we don’t have to settle for the lowest

but can aspire to the highest.

Every Sunday,

the Lord calls us to live in the image of God

we were created to be. 

We can be peacemakers,

we can respect the commitment of marriage

(our own and that of others),

we can honor the sanctity of human life and love,

we can learn to reconcile, to forgive,

to build a civilization based on the Gospel. 

At ever Mass,

the Lord looks at us, as he did Peter and Andrew. 

He sees us as we are

and each Sunday,

he shows us once more what we can become. 

The dignity and drama of our discipleship

is not to settle for what we are

but to aspire

to what each of us can become in Christ.

[Deacon Mick is at it again. This is his homily from the Feast of the Holy Family. As always, you can catch the livestream at www.facebook.com/stpatsak/]

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family.

There was a 98 year old Grandfather from Ireland who was dying. The family gathered around his bed trying to make his last journey comfortable. They gave him some warm milk to drink but he refused. Then one of the his sons, remembering a bottle of Irish whiskey received as a gift the previous Christmas, took the glass back to the kitchen, he poured a generous amount of the whiskey into the warm milk. Returning to his Grandfathers’s bed, he held the glass to his grandfathers lips. Grandfather drank a little, then a little more and before they knew it, he had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop. “Grandfather,” the family asked with earnest, “please give us some wisdom before you die.”

Grandfather raised himself up in bed and with a smiling but pious look on his face said, “Whatever you do, don’t sell that cow!

Well as I said, today we celebrate Holy Family Sunday

and it’s an opportunity for us

to reflect on family life, our family’s life. 

On December 8th, the Holy Father declared this year

dedicated to St. Joseph — who is the patron of families,

Fathers, expectant mothers and the Universal Church.

You see, family life

is something we had in common with Jesus,

something Jesus shared with us,

and, like Jesus,

we are all profoundly influenced by our families.

We are most deeply shaped, mentally, emotionally,

and spiritually by the people in our families

and by family events

such as births, deaths, marriages and illness. 

The family is the most important community

to which we will ever belong.

Our readings today

emphasize three points about the family,

first – the family as a bridge,

second – as a factory

and third – as a living cell.

SO!  Let’s explore those points——

The first reading from the Old Testament Book of Sirach

speaks about human life

as connected across generations. 

We have responsibilities and relationships

with the generations before us as well as those after us.

In our modern world,

we hear a great deal about

our responsibility to the future generations

but what about our responsibility to those

who have gone before us:

to respect and care for our parents

as they become older, weaker, more easily distracted. 

Sirach writes,

“My son, take care of your father (and I will add “and mother”)

when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. 

Even if his mind fail,

be considerate of him;

revile him not all the days of his life;

kindness to a father will not be forgotten…” 

While we think about our responsibilities to the next generation,

we need to remember the generation that preceded us. 

We are to be instruments

of Christ’s care and love to them as well. 

The family is a community in which

one generation cares for another.

That’s the wisdom of Sirach for us on this Holy Family Sunday —

the family is a bridge that

connects generation to generation to generation.

Second – The family is also a spiritual community,

a community of faith. 

St. Paul writes to the Colossians in today’s second reading

about the virtues that hold a church or family together:

patience, forgiveness, and joint prayer.

It would be nice to say that

with our Baptism,

the whole of Christian life sort of unfolds automatically. 

But it doesn’t happen that way. 

None of us is on a spiritual auto pilot.

We need to learn what it means to be a Christian. 

We need to learn how to pray,

how to be patient,

how to reconcile,

how to be bridge-builders. 

The family is where those lessons about life are started. 

The family is the factory of love.

Now, in my lifetime

I’ve worked in factories

and factories are not neat and clean places. 

and families are a little like that as well.

They are not always neat and clean places because

growing-up and growing in the Lord

are not parts of a neat and tidy process.

The family is where

we start to learn the virtues of patience,

responsibility, cooperation,

self-discipline, self-control

and dealing with authority. 

The family,

that first Christian community to which we belong,

is really the beta test site,

the testing-ground for how deep our discipleship really is.

It’s a real factory of faith where

the rough edges get smoothed,

where shape and structure come into our lives,

where we start to learn what it means to follow Christ

and just how far ———- we may have yet to go. 

The family is a community where

we can learn to grow in Jesus Christ. 

That’s the wisdom of St. Paul on this Holy Family Sunday,

the family as a factory of faith.

Lastly, in the Gospel,

we have Mary and Joseph

bringing Jesus to the Temple for Passover. 

By rituals such as this,

they are joining their family to the their larger family of Judaism.

When people come to Church as a family,

they are joining their family

to the larger family life of the Catholic Church. 

Here, in Church,

we come to see the Church’s mission as our mission,

to see the Church’s concerns as our concerns. 

Each family is a living cell of the huge Body of Christ. 

That’s part of the wisdom of this Gospel scene for us of the

Holy Family coming to the Temple together. 

The family that prays together grows, unites and stays together.

The family is the living cell of the larger Church.

My brothers & sisters — Today, we lift all our families

including our Church family

to the Lord in prayer

to ask for healing, grace, and strength because

family life is not easy today in this world in which we live.

During this year dedicated to St. Joseph – Patron of Families

and especially on this Holy Family Sunday ——

we have a chance not simply to reflect on family life in general,

but to make a decision

on how we can strengthen our own family’s life in the coming year,

on how to make it a stronger bridge that connects generations,

on how to make it a more effective factory of faith,

and on how to make it a vital, living cell of the Body of Christ.

I leave you with one simple suggestion,

in this year dedicated to St. Joseph

there is a powerful opportunity to gain a plenary indulgence.

Take advantage of this great gift    

AND do it —— as a family.

Merry Christmas…Day 3! 

     One of the great things about being Catholic is that for us, Christmas is not just a day, but a whole season. This year Christmas lasts until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord on January 10th.  That’s actually 17 days of Christmas.  So don’t take that tree down yet!

     This week, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. A central focus of the feast is the family as the first expression of the Church. Indeed, it’s vitally important for us to remember that Church exists first at home. If it does not, then what we do here on the weekends will have limited impact.

So how do you raise a Catholic household?  How can each of us be a “holy family?”  Simple.  In the Church we sanctify (set aside for God) three things: 1) People, 2) Places, and 3) Time.  So start with the basics:

1. Sanctify the members of the family. In the Catholic Book of Household Blessings and Prayers there are lots and lots of blessings that parents can impart at certain times of the year. I particularly like the blessing of children as they leave for school each day.  There are also blessings for birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, and just about anything else you can think of. 

2.  Set aside a special place in the house that is dedicated to family prayer. You have a place to eat, a place to sleep, a place to watch TV.  Where in the house will you make a place to pray? As a child, I remember kneeling around our parents’ bed to pray the Rosary. Make sure there is a crucifix prominently displayed in the main part of the house. Does every bedroom have a crucifix above the bed or the doorway.  Have a depiction of the Last Supper in your dining room.

3. Make sacred family time.  Make the Church calendar, your family’s calendar. The parish calendars that we hand out can help in this regard. Celebrate all the liturgical seasons at home. Decorate with the liturgical colors.  Advent calendars and Advent wreathes are great for preparing for Christmas. Leave the Nativity Scene and other Christmas decorations up until the Baptism of the Lord (some will even do so until Candlemas on February 2nd.) Set aside a certain time each day for simple family prayer. 

4. Learn your faith and have resources on hand for quick reference.  Here are five essential Catholic books in every household: 1) New American Study Bible (Revised Edition), 2) Catechism of the Catholic Church 3) Catholic Book of Household Blessings and Prayers. 4) Flannery’s Documents of Vatican II, Volume I. 4) Butler’s Lives of the Saints (Revised). 5) The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom by John Hardon, S.J.

  Raising a holy Catholic family is not rocket science, but it does take some planning and resolve. The traditions established in the home now will pay dividends for generations.