Sunday Meditation: The Feast of the Holy Family

Murillo

Do you ever pray for your ancestors? Just think...without them you wouldn't be here. And are you a Catholic? Then you need to thank your ancestors for passing on the faith, unless you're a convert, of course, in which case you'll have others to thank. 

Feast of the Holy Family - The Double Trinity

Double Trinity
with Saint Augustine and Saint Catherine
Cuzco School

Feast of the Holy Family

Baltimore Catechism,
Lesson 5: 48-49, p 31

48. What is man?

Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made in the image and likeness of God. 

49. Is this likeness to God in the body or in the soul?

This likeness to God is chiefly in the soul [spirit-mind-will]. The likeness to the Blessed Trinity is found chiefly in man's soul, but there is a resemblance in the body too - not however in the body of one man alone, but in man and woman united in marriage and the child which is the normal fruit of the marriage.

Comments: 

Therefore, since only Man-Woman-Child (in marriage) is the image and likeness of God in man's body, homosexuality - man/man or woman/woman - is a mortal sin and will never be recognized by God as being 1) a marriage, 2) a family, 3) good or 4) holy

I don't care what Bergoglio says.

THE FAMILY is a reflection of the image and likeness of God as the earthly trinity. 

THE HOLY FAMILY is the epitome of the earthly trinity.

In this painting we see the DOUBLE TRINITY. The first Trinity is GOD - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

The second Trinity is the FAMILY - man/woman/child. Here the Family is represented by its epitome - The Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Therefore, same-sex "marriage" is NOT the image and likeness of God. It is the image and likeness of the devil therefore a mortal sin. 

Double Trinity - Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

Double Trinity with Saint Augustine and Saint Catherine of Siena
Cuzco School, c. 1700-30. Museo de Arte de Lima, Lima, Peru

Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

Baltimore Catechism, 

Lesson 5: 48-49, p 31

48. What is man?

Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made in the image and likeness of God. 

49. Is this likeness to God in the body or in the soul?

This likeness to God is chiefly in the soul [spirit-mind-will]. The likeness to the Blessed Trinity is found chiefly in man's soul, but there is a resemblance in the body too - not however in the body of one man alone, but in man and woman united in marriage and the child which is the normal fruit of the marriage.

Comments: 

Therefore, since only Man-Woman-Child (in marriage) is the image and likeness of God in man's body, homosexuality - man/man or woman/woman - is a mortal sin and will never be recognized by God as being 1) a marriage, 2) a family, 3) good or 4) holy.

THE FAMILY is a reflection of the image and likeness of God as the earthly trinity. 

THE HOLY FAMILY is the epitome of the earthly trinity.

The Feast of the Holy Family: I hope you and yours are celebrating a family day!

We are!

I love this portrait of the Holy Family because it shows Joseph as a young man instead of a doddering old codger. Have a blessed final day of 2017! And may the Holy Family pray for us and our needs.

Claudio Coello, Spanish painter of the baroque period
c. 1642 - 1693

Meditation on the Feast of the Holy Family

The Holy Family by Esteban Murillo

I love Friday morning Mass because it's the day the pastor of our little mission church comes to preach and his homilies are always insightful.  This morning, being the Feast of the Holy Family, he preached on personal and family virtues.  His homily began with a hat tip to Thomas Aquinas who in his Summa, after speaking about creation, wrote, not about sin, but about virtue.

Father said most of us work on eliminating sin in our lives which is good, but too often we focus so much on sin that we forget about virtue. And if we do, we are like the man in the parable whose house is swept clean, but then the devil returns with seven more who are worse than himself.

Feast of the Holy Family: The Family Dinner is a Must!

One of the things I always made sure happened at our house when the children were growing up was the family dinner. Even when the kids were involved in activities I tried to plan dinner so we could all eat together and, generally, we did.

Our family is down to two, but I still try to make a delicious healthy dinner for the two of us that we eat together. And on the feast of the Holy Family it seems like an appropriate thing to think about.

Feast of the Holy Family: It All Begins with Marriage

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family which really began at the betrothal of Joseph and Mary. In the Jewish tradition, the betrothal was the marriage ceremony. That's why, when Joseph wasn't sure he was part of the plan, he intended to "divorce" Mary quietly. She was NEVER an unwed mother. Neither were they "homeless" when Jesus was born. Their family was firmly grounded from the start although it was a difficult one because of outside circumstances. In fact, they lived in the shadow of the cross from the very beginning.

So when I read the article below, I was fascinated by the marriage custom that recognizes just that -- we are married in Christ crucified:

Married on a Crucifix
Imagine a world without divorce. Imagine families without separation. Imagine no children or hearts torn apart.
by Michael Mullan, LC | Source: Catholic.net 

Imagine a world without divorce. Imagine families without separation. Imagine no children or hearts torn apart.

People of one place in this world do not have to imagine.

In the town of Siroki-Brijeg in Herzegovina not one of the 13,000 inhabitants can recall a single divorce or broken family.

What is their secret? One look at their marriage rite says it all.

When the bride and bridegroom go to the church to be married they carry a crucifix with them. The priest blesses the crucifix and exclaims, “You have found your cross! It is a cross to love, to carry with you, a cross that is not thrown off but rather treasured.”

When they interchange the marital vows, the bride puts her right hand on this crucifix and the groom puts his right hand over hers. Both are united to the cross. The priest covers their hands with his stole while they pronounce their promises to love each other in good times and in bad.
Then they both first kiss the cross, not each other. If one abandons the other, they abandon Christ on the cross....

Larry and I will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary next October and I think this would be a wonderful part of a vow renewal. As we get older we are more aware of the cross. We see friends struggling with terminal illness of a spouse or the pain of seeing children divorce or abandon the faith. It's not to late to be "married on the crucifix" and call on our Lord to keep us united in Him. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all priests preparing couples for marriage would encourage them to make this custom part of their wedding ceremony.

The Feast of the Holy Family...

...is an invitation to model your family on the home at Nazareth. If we always live in the light of the Holy Spirit our work and play, every breath we take, will be sanctified. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us.

Sunday Meditation: Order Out of Chaos and the Feast of the Holy Family

We are blessed to have our local kids and their families visiting. Our youngest lives nearby and spends the night at home visiting during the day with her husband and little girl, but two of our children, their spouses, and eight of our nineteen children who live farther afield are in residence for a few days amidst a happy chaos. It is a far cry from our ordinary life of quiet order and I always rejoice in it.

Last night before going to bed, I went into the family room and surveyed the state of absolute disorder. It set me thinking on Richard Dawkins and the theory of evolution, out of chaos comes order. The room definitely brought to mind the primoridal soup with toys, books, wrappings, ribbons, cups, and cookie remnants all mixed together. All it needed to graphically represent the evolutionists' vision was a little spin to set it all moving.

I wondered how long it would take for this mess to evolve into a state of order and decided I would go to bed and hope it happened during the night. Unfortunately, it didn't and, as we left for the early Mass, several little bodies rested amidst the mess watching cartoons while parents slept peacefully. We returned to the remnants of breakfast and everyone bustling to get ready for Mass, hurrying out the door and leaving the youngest behind including one who was throwing up during the night. Chaos still reigned.

What do you think? How long would it take, if I (and the other adults) were very patient waiting for things to evolve into order? I don't think any of us will live that long. I detected the hand of order in my daughter-in-law as she sent one of the kids in to pick up and then checked on his progress. Hmm...was this an evolutionary intervention from an intellignet source of design? She is definitely intelligent and organized.

I think my Christmas household demonstrates how important it is to have an intelligent and benevolent higher power to bring about or restore order. And this thought segues nicely into the Feast of the Holy Family. God established the family as society's basic unit of order in a chaotic world. It is, when it images God's holy design, the bedrock foundation of society. One of the reasons we are sinking into chaos is the abandonment of God's order for a social experiment in chaos...and not a happy chaos, I might add.

If we don't watch out our culture will be little more than a mass of barbarians swimming in the mudhole that evolutionsts' believe we emerged from. While I can't envision Dawkins' world at the beginning, I have no trouble seeing where his chaotic thought is taking us.

And for an interesting article that relates to my Sunday morning meditation go here. The author illustrates the chaos of thought required to uphold evolution when the facts dispute it. As he says, "In the last analysis, evolution can be likened to the description of human history as 'just one damn thing after another'." I disagree with that view of history where one can see what is coming by examining what has passed, and I certainly disgree with his interpretation of a chaotically evolving world. Happily for us, the Designer lives. Now, if only we would conform our vision to His all would be well.

Pope Benedict Speaks to Families

On the Feast of the Holy Family the pope gave parents much food for thought about forming their homes in imitation of the Holy Family at Nazareth which the pope said, "merits the title 'holy' because its sole desire was to fulfil the will of God, incarnate in the adorable presence of Jesus." He also described the Holy Family as a "model of conjugal love, collaboration, sacrifice, trust in Divine Providence, industriousness, solidarity, of all those values safeguarded and promoted by the family, contributing in a basic way to the formation of the fabric of every society."Just think of the holiness of a society made up of families who work to develop those virtues and especially conform themselves to God's will.

The pope went on to say that, "The family is certainly a grace of God, which allows what He Himself is to be revealed: Love. An eternally gratuitous love that sustains faithfully and without limits, even in moments of difficulty or discouragement. These qualities are eminently incarnate in the Holy Family in which Jesus came to the world and was raised, coming to wisdom with the thoughtful care of Mary and the faithful tutelage of St. Joseph."

The pope did not fail to call families to live the challenging aspects of marriage saying, "Dear families do not let love, openness to life, and the incomparable bonds that unite your home be corrupted. Ask this continually of the Lord, praying together, that your intentions be illuminated by faith and exalted by divine grace on the path toward holiness. In this way, with the joy of sharing everything in love, you will give the world a beautiful witness of how important the family is for the human being and for society. The Pope is by your side, asking especially of the Lord for those in each family who have the greatest needs of health, work, comfort, and companionship."

The family is under increasing attack in the culture of death - from the murder of its youngest members, to the corruption of family members through pornography, sex education, and contraception. The culture of death seems to hold sway, but we put our trust in a faithful God who will never abandon us.

While you are thinking about making a New Year's Resolution, how about praying the rosary every day that the American family might be strengthened and come to resemble more and more the Holy Family of Nazareth. Start with your own family.

On the Feast of the Holy Family Become Like Little Children

What could be more appropriate than to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family with a daughter and son-in-law, their four children, and four additional grandchildren whose parents are off on a little Christmas adventure? To add to the fun, one of the wee ones turned three today so we planned a birthday brunch complete with a recycled cake made by stacking and refrosting leftovers from a Christmas eve birthday cake for Jesus. Just think: we avoided increasing the sugar supply, saved money, and minimized our carbon footprints by not using extra electricity to bake a new cake. Wouldn't Al Gore be proud?

I never enjoy life so much as when I am surrounded by a houseful of little voices. Just thinking about them brings a smile to my face and a song to my heart. Jesus must have felt the same way. "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them," he told the apostles, "for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

Why did Jesus say that? Was he praising their childishness? If he was, he must absolutely love our Peter Pan culture where big babies in adult bodies avoid reality, use sexual promiscuity and other vices as grown-up lollipops, and refuse any adult responsibility to the point of murdering their own children.

No, Jesus wasn't praising children for being childish, but for their innocence, their trusting dependence, and their complete guilelessness. The dictionary defines guile as "treacherous cunning, skillful deceit." When was the last time you were deceived by the "treacherous cunning" of a little child? When did a toddler betray you with a kiss?

The world tends to admire guile especially when the "skillful deceit" succeeds. Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing whom Barack Obama considers a mentor, taught his followers to use guile whenever necessary to get what they wanted. He called himself the Machiavelli of the poor, as if dishonesty can bring good to anyone. Guile-filled adults cook books and run ponzi schemes that rob hardworking people of their life savings. How many poor people with the "help" of community organizers lost whatever savings they had by the forclosure of a bad loan? Who benefitted? Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, not the poor. Guile-filled people believe they are above the rest of men; rules of morality don't apply to them. They make their own rules no matter how evil the outcomes. As the world's powerful ones, they stand at the opposite end of the spectrum from the powerless, especially children.

Fr. John Hardon, SJ often said that only little, humble people will get into heaven. That means adults must foster the virtues of innocence, dependence on God, and guilelessness. Those virtues make one fit to serve the Lord like Nathaniel whom Jesus called to be an apostle saying, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile." Wouldn't you love to be described by the Lord in that fashion? The prescription is simple even if filling it is hard. Choose the virtue and work toward it every day through practice. That could make a great new year's resolution!