Members of God’s family Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17; Lk 2:22-40 When we introduce ourselves to strangers, we give our first name and our family name. Our most personal possession, our name, includes those who are nearest to us. No matter how circumstances may change over the years, we can never be ourselves apart from our connection to our families. To be human means to be woven from the fabric of other peoples’ lives. Jesus too belonged to a family. The second person of the Trinity chose to be born into a human family, sharing that experience with every human being. The birth of a child is not something totally under the control of the human beings involved, for every child is gift of God. Mary was astounded to learn that she was to be the mother of Jesus (Lk 1:29). As a gift from God, every child deserves parents who love them for no other reason than that they exist. Children who are deprived of parental love often carry a wound throughout their lives that never quite heals, no matter how many years pass. Without the experience of a loving and nurturing family, it is difficult for a person to find real happiness. At the same time, children must never simply become extensions of their parents. They are not the means through which parents live out their lives, their dreams, their fantasies. Parents care for their children for a time, but then they must let them go. Parents are most faithful to their vocation when they prepare their children lovingly and prudently to leave the home that nurtured them. They need to find their own happiness, their own future, their own life with God in their own way. Letting children go their own way is not easy, but that is the parents’ vocation. Mary had to watch as Jesus left behind his home, his father’s trade and the traditional life in Nazareth to fulfill his destiny and his vocation. That had to be a difficult moment for Mary. Still, connection with one’s family is a cord that can never be severed. Families ought to be a source of support and understanding throughout life. The family is the place where each of us should be able to go to find help as we try to learn from the mistakes that every person will make. This does not mean that we ought to deny the mistakes that members of our families make. Rather, every member of our family should always feel welcome, find forgiveness and enjoy support in the family’s loving embrace. Our families should be the privileged place of our first encounter with God. Christian parents not only teach their children to pray, but they also pray with them. They not only take them to church, but they worship with them. The church’s liturgical seasons and feasts should become part of the rhythm of family life. By word and example, Catholic parents should teach their children what it means to be a Catholic in today’s world. Catholic parents raise their children not only to be careful about observing their religious duties as Catholics, but they also teach by word and example the Gospel values of justice and peace. If parents do not uphold the values of compassion toward the poor, justice for the oppressed, if Catholic parents do not show their children how to forgive, if Catholic parents do not teach respect for life, if Catholic parents do not teach their children how to be peacemakers, who will do it? Children are a gift from God to their parents and parents are a gift from God to their children. They enrich each other’s lives beyond measure. They express their gratitude for the gifts they received through their family life through mutual support, sincere forgiveness and loving concern throughout their lives. God wills that at every moment of our lives — from birth to death — we be enveloped in the embrace of a loving family. The memories we treasure the most are those we enjoyed in that embrace. For this we give thanks to God who adopted us so we can share to love that binds together the persons of the Trinity. We are members of God’s own family. For this we can only give thanks.
About the Author Father Leslie Hoppe, OFM, is professor emeritus of Old Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union, 5416 S. Cornell Ave., Chicago.