The Feast of the Holy Family
Sirach 3:2-7, 12-14 / Col 3:12-21 / Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
A man left work on Friday afternoon, but instead of going home, he went partying with the boys and didn't return till Sunday night. His wife was furious, and after a lengthy tirade finally said, "How would you like it, if you didn't see me for two or three days?"
"I'd like it just fine!" he slurred. And that's what happened. All day Monday, he didn't see her even once. Tuesday and Wednesday passed without his seeing her. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, he caught just a glimpse of her as the swelling of his eyes started to go down.
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This is the Feast of the Holy Family. Whether we live alone or have a dozen faces gathered round our dinner table, we all belong to God's big family. And like it or not, our ability to thrive, and indeed our salvation, depend on how well we learn to live in family.
We have immense power for bringing good and evil into each others' lives. The simplest things we say and do can change the course of whole days or even years, sometimes poisoning them, sometimes enriching them immeasurably. And the same is true in reverse. The people we choose to connect with and the people we're just thrown in with can change us, sometimes in major ways, for good or ill.
Our ability to change others and to be changed by them confronts us with two crucial questions. First, what are our words and deeds saying and doing to those around us? Are they saying, "I value you and I want to help you have a good life"? Or perhaps, "It's survival of the fittest! Have a nice day if you can"? Are we becoming life-givers or life-robbers?
Secondly, what are we receiving from others? The question is not, what are folks saying and doing in our regard, but rather, what part of what they say and do are we taking in? Some of the folks around us are sending some pretty ugly stuff, but we don't have to receive it and take it in. We can mark it "Return to Sender." On the other hand, by their words and deeds, some folks are sending us some tremendously valuable gifts. Are we receiving those good gifts or are they being lost to us forever?
Deciding what to send to others by who we are and what we do, and deciding what to receive from others, are crucial decisions that shape our very center and then feed back into our family and every one of our friendships. In giving us the power to make those decisions, God has given us a share in His own power to create what is good, true, and beautiful.
Use that power wisely, and your life will be good, true, and beautiful, and you'll die without regrets!
