We recently gathered as a family to celebrate our grandson’s transition to his first year of university. There was plentiful food and warm conversation. We are so happy for him as he embarks on this life-changing adventure and can only imagine the level of excitement and anticipation he must be feeling. There have been many life changes since we held him as an infant. Change seems to dominate the landscape of being a family. Those early memories move our hearts.
Transitions within our family lives are part of a broad fabric of love and relationship, adjustment and growth with deep roots.
I remember our grandson falling asleep in my arms in the early months of his life. Now, he towers above me in height. While he has grown taller and progressed in learning, he is the person he has always been, which endears us to him. I think this is so with all families. Family members change, grow, and are loved for who they are, who they’ve always been, and who they are becoming.
What Families Teach
Families come in various shapes and forms. They are sometimes challenging places to learn. We hope they help us become better persons. In our faith, we believe married people seek their mutual perfection – impossible to attain, not easy to make progress, but worth every effort. The Lord’s grace seeks us where we are. It can be difficult to grow beyond our self-preoccupation. The love Jesus invites us to share is at the heart of joy. The Lord calls us into freedom.
The Mother of Jesus
Earlier this week, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary. It is a Glorious Mystery. Reflecting on the privileged place of Mary in our Faith Story may bring to mind the privileged place that family life holds in our human existence. The feast day celebrates a joyful heart, a blessed transition, and a relationship that never ends.
We pray that all life’s celebrations be joyful encounters that draw us closer to each other and the Lord. We pray that transitions may help us focus on the heart of things.
“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.” (John 2:1)
Let our family prayer be confident that we are all priceless members of the whole human family as we have one Father who loves us beyond measure.