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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Every family has a special language of danger. In some homes, danger begins when your mother calls you by your full baptismal name. And you know the last judgment has begun. If she adds, “Come here,” even the angels stop singing. And the amazing thing is, she may be angry because you have done something naughty, not because she hates you, but because she knows you. The neighbor’s child may do the same thing and she will say, “Children are children.” But if you do it, suddenly there is a family council, an investigation, and possibly a lecture beginning with, “After all we have done for you…” That is Amos.
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Has anyone here visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa? It stands in Pisa, in the Tuscany region of Italy, in the beautiful cathedral square called the “Square of Miracles.” Its Construction began in 1173. It was meant to be the bell tower of the cathedral. But very early, after only a few floors were built, the builders noticed something embarrassing: the tower was leaning. Imagine the committee meeting. “Good news, the tower is beautiful. Bad news, it is already trying to leave us.”
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A friend of mine once received a phone call that began with three words nobody wants to hear: "This is the IRS." His heart stopped. His life flashed before his eyes, not his good memories, but receipts, tax returns, and charitable donations he may have slightly rounded up. Within thirty seconds, he was mentally confessing crimes he hadn't even committed. Then, to his relief, he discovered it was a scam. What fascinated me was that the caller never asked for money immediately. He simply created panic. He wanted a reaction before reason had a chance to show up for work.
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Today the Church gives us a saint tailor-made for this Gospel. Philip Neri, who was once the designated heir to a prosperous merchant empire in 16th-century San Germano, Italy. His uncle Romolo was wealthy, childless, and besotted with his young nephew. The boy had intelligence, charm, and business acumen. The inheritance was basically his to collect. All Philip had to do was show up and wait. But he left. Walked to Rome with nothing in his pockets and God on his mind, never looked back, and spent the rest of his eighty years evangelizing the streets of Rome one hilarious conversation at a time, shaving only half his beard to humble himself when people praised his holiness. He even ordered a priest who gave one beautiful sermon to preach the same sermon six consecutive times so people would think he only had the one. Philip Neri gave up a fortune and got Rome. That, is a hundredfold by any reasonable calculation.
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Imagine being a devoted fan of a football team. You know every player's name, you wear the jersey, you have the mug and the car sticker, and you never miss a match, you scream at the television, and you even try to coach the team from your couch telling them how they should play. But one day someone asks you, perfectly casually, "Did you catch the championship final last month?" And you say, with complete confidence, "What championship? What is it about? That is roughly the situation Paul walks into when he meets those twelve men in Ephesus.
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There is a fascinating detail about earthquakes that engineers often mention. During a serious tremor, people rarely run in straight lines to the nearest exit. Even when the exit is obvious, panic makes human beings irrational. Some freeze. Some scream. Some grab the wrong things. In the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, rescue workers said that many people came out carrying absurd objects in panic: lampshades, television remotes, frying pans, even grocery bags, while leaving behind passports, money, and valuables including toddlers. Fear rearranges the brain.
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