family

Simeon and Anna only recognized the Holy Family because God was active in the situation. Simeon needed courage to warn Mary that her joy also heralded pain. Joseph would be presented with a responsibility he had never anticipated.

According to tradition, Joseph died before Jesus began His adult ministry, so he was no longer around to support Mary when she was most in need of his quiet strength and fidelity. Family life may not be a bed of roses. Every family will have problems to face. Every family will know troubles and sorrows. Sometimes break apart because the problems become too many, or the challenges of living together become too great. There can be an unbreakable bond, a unique friendship and an unflinching strength that carries a family through good times and bad. Every family has moments of great joy as well as times that are difficult, when it is only the love between them that gives them the courage they need as they face things they had never expected and would never have wanted. Mary and Joseph gave Jesus the foundation that prepared Him for Calvary – and also for Easter Sunday. May their example and their prayers bring our families courage in the bad times, and joy in the good.

In writing to the people of Colossae, St. Paul gives a very impressive list of virtues, and he talks about them as if they were the clothes that we wear in everyday life. Every day we have to put these clothes on – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Do you wear these clothes every day? He goes on telling us to teach and advise one another in daily life. We have a lot of learning to do. And finally he points out that parents must be as good to their children as they expect their children to be themselves. Virtues are not simply “nice things” to have in your life. They are vital to your well-being and to your happiness. They are vital to the peace of the world. Jesus said, “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” You will never know what the joy of God is. And the point is that every day your virtue will be tested by members of your own family, as well as by people in the street. But the first battle will be fought not in your home but in your heart, because it is there that virtue and vice battle for supremacy.

Some people have nothing but happiness to relate when they think of their family. Others have nothing but sorrow and sadness to speak of. The family in our experience, can be a place of joy, or a nightmare. If our experience of family is good, then give thanks to God for it. Where people’s experience of family is bad, then let us save people from the ruins.