FatherRon.com » Holy Family http://www.fatherron.com Father Ron Shirley Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:26:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Fleeing To Egypt 12-26-2010 http://www.fatherron.com/2010/12/26/fleeing-to-egypt-12-26-2010/ http://www.fatherron.com/2010/12/26/fleeing-to-egypt-12-26-2010/#comments Sun, 26 Dec 2010 15:55:40 +0000 mike http://www.fatherron.com/?p=893 It had been a rough year. Dad lost his job a year ago; finding a new one has been a full-time occupation. Mom has taken on a number of part-time jobs while being a full-time mother to their two daughters. The girls have been terrific, helping out in whatever ways they can. Dad was finally offered a position in another city several hundred miles away. They had no choice but to pull up stakes and start over: selling their old house and finding a new one, arranging for schools, packing up and saying goodbye. That first night together in their new house, surrounded by their life in packing boxes, they sat on the floor and ate Chinese takeout. And they realized not what they had lost but what they had in each other: a home.
It was a long night. Little Jack cried and cried with colic. In shifts, they cradled Jack as they walked up and down the hall, rubbing his little back, singing to him until they finally put Jack down in his crib. They were exhausted but happy and the most precious thing in their lives was peacefully asleep.
It is a difficult conversation. There is no easy way to begin that “talk” with your pre-teen child, that confrontation with a teenage son or daughter about their abuse of alcohol or some other substance, that decision regarding an elderly parent’s care. The exchange can quickly deteriorate into an angry exchange of recriminations and accusations, resulting in rejection and estrangement. Love often requires us to risk that love for the sake of the beloved.
In our lives as spouses and as sons and daughters, financial, physical and emotional circumstances force us to “flee” to our own Egypts. As is clear from Matthew’s Gospel, Mary, Joseph and the Child’s struggle as a family was filled with heartache, fear, misunderstanding and doubt—but together they created a family of love and compassion, of nurture and acceptance. Within our own families, as well, the love of God enables us to make our way through life in all its disappointments and complexities. As we gather as families this day after Christmas, may we take on again the hard work of being family to one another—of creating that safe place of unconditional love, welcome and forgiveness.

]]> http://www.fatherron.com/2010/12/26/fleeing-to-egypt-12-26-2010/feed/ 0 Feast of the Holy Family 12-27-2009 http://www.fatherron.com/2009/12/27/feast-of-the-holy-family-12-27-2009/ http://www.fatherron.com/2009/12/27/feast-of-the-holy-family-12-27-2009/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:21:53 +0000 mike http://fatherron.com/?p=709 During his 1967 Super Bowl season with the Green Bay Packers, the great quarterback Bart Starr had a deal with his oldest son.  For every perfect paper Bart Junior brought home from school, Bart Starr would give him ten cents – a pretty nifty sum of money for a kid back then.

In the course of the season, Starr had a particularly rough game against the (then) St. Louis Cardinals.  Starr was discouraged and angry about his own performance.  He returned home late that night, weary and battered, after a long plane ride.  But his spirits lifted immediately when he found this note on his pillow:

Dear Dad, I thought you played a great game.  Love, Bart.

And taped to the note were two dimes.

Within our families we experience the heights of joy and the depths of pain.  Our belonging to a family means that each one of us – parent and child – reflects for the other the selfless, limitless and unconditional love of Christ, both in good times and (more importantly) in bad times.  The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus, in the suffering and tragedy they endured together, is a model for us and our own families as we confront the many tensions and crises that threaten the stability, peace and unity that are the joys of being a family.

I would like to leave you with this thought today; in the midst of all the wild and weird conflicts we may face in our families, God wants to be part of them.  In the midst of the shouting matches, doors being slammed, people pouting and not speaking to each other, holding grudges, and in alcoholic or abusive situations, GOD THE HOLY IS THERE!  God is not embarrassed to be there and God wants to help.

As we begin the year of 2010, I pray that as we face conflicts in our families, when we feel overwhelmed and everything seems impossible and we try to resolve our differences – that we will be humble and wise enough to seek help for ourselves.  Especially, the comfort, the grace and the peace that God alone can offer our families.

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