-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-Christmas homily was lost in space
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 on Sat and 9:30 on Sunday
Perfect Family - Got One?
I'm thinking about the universal "neurosis" that I am thinking is the enemy to our good functioning and peace.....imperfect family/dysfunctional family grief. The holy family is not a perfect family - in fact their family origins, relations, and agreed upon arrangement don't really fit into what I hear people longing for or the church recommending.
But the holy family has something better than family-systems psychology going for them. They have their divine vocation dominant in their lives, consciousness, and daily living. To love god above all things and your neighbor as yourself is the divine vocation that drives them together and drives them through life unto death. No death bed regrets in the holy family. Why not? Because they all did what God was calling them to do before responding to what they might have preferred.
Think about the biggest sadness in your life. I'm thinking it is going to be the result of you or someone you loved or someone who was suppose to love you NOT doing what God was asking. That never happened in the holy family. Thus, no regrets.
The five regrets of the dying....all have to do with failing to do what God asks of us.
So, we can stop grieving over our imperfect families and stop insisting on perfect relationships in the family. Like the holy family we could start realizing that our joy will come in looking for God's will in our daily lives and striving to live it perfectly. The family relationships will fall into place. And then no regrets when it's over.
