My church has both Holy Family and Holy Innocents feasts today. Well, I am sure Holy Innocents is more a remembrance rather than a feast day. I didn’t bring my children to church, as usual. Well, one is sick, one is at a party and two younger ones are not suitable to follow me on a day when I have OHP duty. So, I went to church, alone. Again. As usual.
Something Father FA said struck me. Maybe he didn’t intend to preach that but still, I ‘heard’ it. The Holy Family is of course, Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Father FA reminded us, the parishioners that it is alright that our families are not perfect. That’s when my mind wandered and I wonder what a horror it is to bring up the boy Jesus. The word dysfunctional just popped into my mind. I think if Father FA can reads mind, he will throw the Sunday missal on my head because he was preaching Holy Family and I was thinking dysfunctional family, very much like The Simpsons.
For example, when Jesus was about 12 years old, He wandered off and His parents couldn’t find him until a few days later. They found Him talking to strangers. Then, there were occasions when Jesus openly did not call Mary, mother. He gave a lot of parables. Let’s us not forget when Mary asked Jesus to change the water into wine and Jesus did not display the obedient son, like what we expect from sons. He didn’t said, OK, Ma, I will change it. Instead, what did He said?
4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”
So, you see, it is fine that I think the Holy Family was pretty much the dysfunctional family, back then, before we know that Jesus is the Son of God, before we know Mary is the Mother of God. However, faith in God has pulled them through. Mary followed through all the sufferings of her Son without fighting back. Joseph sort of faded into the sunset, never to be heard again (well, at least not in the Bible).
Therefore, I guess it is fine we are a little bit dysfunctional sometimes, as long as we keep close to God and try to build our family activities around Him and turn to Him when we are in trouble. I am pretty sure each family will eventually turn out fine at the end of the day.
I wonder if I can qualify this under homily because it certainly is not the homily delivered by the parish priest on a Holy Family and Holy Innocent mass. But then, who better quality to ‘hear’ homilies on families than me, mom with five sons, huh?
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