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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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There is something beautiful in today's Gospel. Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes into Simon Peter's home. And there he discovers that Peter's mother-in-law is sick. I love that detail. Jesus doesn't care only about Peter. He cares about Peter's family. He enters the home. He sees their concern. He comes close to her. And he heals her.
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There is something that happens in almost every family gathering. Somebody arrives late, sits quietly, hardly eats, and leaves early. Before the car has even disappeared from the driveway, the committee begins its investigation. “Something is wrong.” “He looked upset.” “She did not speak to me.” “They must be having problems.” Within ten minutes, people who have no actual information have produced a full documentary, complete with motive, and a conclusion with background music. Saint Paul says something today that should make all of us slightly less confident: “Who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within?”
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Earlier this month, I was in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. You know what those hills have seen. Ten years of civil war. A blockade with no medicine, no fuel, no way out. Villages burned. Priests evacuated. Churches empty or in ruins. The faith did not die. It did not die because ordinary people carried it. Catechists walked. Mothers gathered children under a tree and prayed the Rosary from memory. No program. No budget. Only people who had received something and refused to let it fall. And then I saw what they handed on.
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We are living in an age obsessed with authenticity. We want authentic food, genuine products, original brands, natural ingredients and we love anything that is organic. We examine labels carefully because nobody wants to discover that what they paid for as “genuine” is actually an imitation. When it comes to people, there are some people with whom you never have to wonder where you stand. They may not always say what you want to hear. They may not be polished. They may occasionally make you wish they had a small internal editing department. But they are real. What they say to your face is what they will say when you leave the room.
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Today, both our First Reading and the Gospel confront the dangerous illusion of self-sufficiency. They confront the notion that we human beings feel we have acquired so much power, fame, and wealth that we no longer need God in our lives! It is the illusion we see in the life of the Prince of Tyre who acquired so much wealth and power that he declared: “I am a god!” It is the difficulty the Lord addresses when he said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” Human history has shown that whenever individuals, families, and even countries become so successful in wealth, power, and fame, they grow so comfortable that they start questioning whether they still need God in their lives! It is at that point that you start to see celebrities who were raised in the Church, educated by the Church, and given a big head start in life, stop attending Church.
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There are some people who become extremely efficient in a crisis. The house could be on fire, the roof collapsing, and they can calmly ask, “Has anyone turned off the coffee machine?” Every family seems to have one. At a funeral, while everyone else is crying, this person is locating the cemetery paperwork, counting sandwiches, finding the missing uncle, checking who needs a ride from the airport, and asking whether the visiting priest has been given lunch. The same thing happens in ordinary crises. A relationship is struggling, a parent is sick, a child is in trouble, or someone has just received terrible news, but the person is concerned about the groceries that have to be bought, the dog that has to be taken out, the bills that have to be paid. Sometimes we mistake this competence for strength. We say, “Look at her. She is holding up beautifully.” Or He is handling it so well.” But occasionally “holding up beautifully” or handling so well simply means that the heart has not yet been given a safe moment to fall apart or to grieve.
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