The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

There is much for us to consider in today's feast. But, principally we are asked to focus our attention upon the Holy Family.

The family is a simple primary social unit. The first man (Adam) was seen to need a helpmate so God created a wife for him (Eve) and the two were united together and given the command to bring forth children. And from this point forward mankind has continued this institution.

But, we appear to have made a considerable mess of this simple and necessary institution. We become so self-absorbed that it is difficult if not impossible to create any meaningful or lasting relationship with those around us. And we consequently see the family unit shattered, and the pieces are so fractured that it seems they can never be reunited into any kind of meaningful whole.

We see the unnatural increase of broken families. Statistically there was a large increase in children with only a single parent in the early 1990's. This trend slowed down in the late 1990's and has shown a slight drop as we entered the 2000's. But, as always, statistics never tell us the whole story. It seems good that there is a decline in the number of children living with only a single parent. However, there are several other moral factors that I think should be considered. 1) Are there fewer single parents because more children are murdered in their mother's womb? 2) Are there fewer single parents because more people are frustrating the very act of conception? 3) Or perhaps, more single parents are getting re-married and thus providing two parents? I don't even want to consider the poor children who must suffer with two or more "parents" of the same gender.

The simple primary unit of Father, Mother, Child has been severely undermined. We see about us a complete inversion of all natural order with the advancement of the "uni-sex" mentality. There are no longer any barriers or lines of segregation between the sexes. There are no longer principally male activities or principally female activities, and where some do survive there is a strong movement to undermine them. Hence we see men acting as women and women acting as men. And the poor children that must look to their parents as role models have more and more sexual, or gender identity problems.

For several generations now we see that men have not been men and women have not been women, and so society today has very little concept of what a family should be.

The solution is before us today. Our Holy Mother the Church places before our eyes the Holy Family, the perfect unit. This is the ideal for everyone to model himself after.

Men should look to St. Joseph and see the role model to follow. We see a humble but strong man who is undaunted by the many challenges facing him in caring for and heading his family. He is a just man with strong faith and love for God. He is a man who when told God's will sets about fulfilling it immediately. Consider how promptly he awoke the Holy Family in the middle of the night and headed for Egypt as soon as the angel told him of God's will. This is the love, faith, humility and strength that is lacking in our men today, but is so sorely needed.

Women should look to Mary and see the role model for them to follow. See in her the simple and prompt obedience of her to God and her husband's will. Think of her fiat given to God allowing for the incarnation. Consider her obedience to St. Joseph as he awoke them and began the journey to Egypt in the middle of the night. See her strength in enduring the hardships placed upon her, and yet consider her compassion for others (such as St Elizabeth). We should strive to emulate her virtues of modesty and chastity. What a stark visual contradiction between the dress of the women of today and Mary. What a stark contradiction with her humility and the boldness of today's women.

And last of all because we are all children, we should look upon Jesus. He gives us the perfect ideal. Even though He is wiser and greater than both of His parents we see how He humbly obeys them. We see Him constantly sacrificing His will to their's. God obeying man and woman! "And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them." We see a simple and prompt obedience to all those in authority no matter how wrong or unjust they may be. And this is not something for just our children to imitate, but is for us all. But, it is especially important in the matters of our faith. Those who rebel against the authority that God has established not only in the world but even more so in the Church are headed for damnation.

We should all as faithful children answer about our lives as Jesus did: "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?