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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Can you imagine finding out that your neighbor—the one everyone considered a bad person—made it into Heaven? Whatever emotions or questions that might stir up in us pale in comparison to the shock Jesus causes in today’s Gospel. In His parable of the man with two sons, Jesus compares the first son—the one who initially said “no” to his father but later changed his mind and did what was asked—to tax collectors and prostitutes. That alone would have been scandalous to His listeners. Tax collectors and prostitutes were considered the most shameful, the most morally corrupt, people of their time. Most believed they were beyond redemption—that the die had been cast, that they could not change. Like that imagined neighbor…or even someone closer to home.
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Learn more about our faith | Strengthening family unity
There is a story about a father who bought a telescope for his family. On a crisp winter night, he took his young son into the backyard to look at the moon. The father set up the tripod, aimed the lens, and told his son to take a look. The little boy squinted into the eyepiece and said, "Dad, I don't see anything. It's just dark." The father checked the alignment. "It's right there. Look again." The boy insisted, "No, it's just black." Finally, the father realized the problem. He reached over and gently twisted the focus knob. Suddenly, the boy gasped. "I see it! I see the craters! I see the light!" The moon hadn't moved. The sky hadn't changed. The only difference was that the focus had been adjusted from darkness to light. Are We Looking for the Light? As we draw closer to Christmas, today's readings ask us: Is our focus adjusted to see what God is showing us? In our first reading, we meet Balaam, hired to curse God's people. Yet when he truly looked, Scripture says he became "one whose eye is true." The focus knob of his heart was turned by God. What did Balaam see? He was looking at thousands of dusty tents in the desert. But with "true sight," he didn't see a mess. He saw "gardens beside a stream" and "cedars planted by the LORD." He saw beauty where others saw only tents. In that moment, he prophesied: "A star shall advance from Jacob"—the very star we are preparing to welcome this Christmas. But in the Gospel, we meet the opposite. The Chief Priests were experts with the best education and highest positions. Yet when Jesus stood right in front of them—healing, loving, teaching—they refused to see Him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. Their question reveals the problem: They were too busy managing their rules and reputation to recognize the Savior. They had decided not to see because truly seeing Jesus would require them to change. Here is the challenge for our families ten days before Christmas: Are we going to be like Balaam, or like the Chief Priests? It's easy to get caught up in the "management" of Christmas—decorations, gifts, schedules. We can become like the Chief Priests, so stressed about how Christmas should look that we miss the Jesus standing right in front of us. We look at our "tents"—our messy kitchens, our tired spouses, our energetic children—and just see the mess. We don't see the "gardens beside a stream." The invitation of Advent is to let God twist the focus knob. To see our homes not as burdens, but as places where God's life flows. Three Ways to Open Our Eyes 1. For Parents: When the house is loud or messy today, stop. Take a breath. Say silently: "Lord, thank you for these people in my tent. Help me see them as You see them." 2. For Children: Be "Joy-Spotters" this week. When you see your mom or dad looking stressed, remind them to look at the light. Give them a hug. Tell them, "It's going to be okay." 3. For the Whole Family: Don't let stress blind you to each other. The gifts under the tree are temporary; the people around the tree are eternal. Let us ask God to twist the focus knob of our hearts today. Let us stop seeing just the darkness and stress. Let us see our homes as God sees them: beautiful gardens, the perfect place for Jesus to be born. Amen.
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My brothers and sisters, In these weeks leading up to Christmas, if I asked a typical family, "What are you waiting for?" the answers would probably be very practical. We are waiting for Amazon packages to arrive. We are waiting for the kids to get out of school for break. We are waiting for the traffic to clear, or perhaps just waiting for a moment of peace in a chaotic schedule. But the question of Advent goes deeper: What is your heart waiting for?
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Today our First Reading from Isaiah and the Gospel from Matthew provide so much comfort and assurance in God’s unfailing help. The Prophet Isaiah writes that, “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagle’s wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” The Lord says in the Gospel that “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” We human beings are not like God! We are limited. We are weak. We grow weary, get exhausted by life’s circumstances. Both readings underscore the important fact that when we abandon ourselves to God, He will provide the strength and the renewal we need to positively journey throughout life! We don’t have to carry our own burdens.
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Our gospel today invites us to reflect on the critical difference between a superficial faith marked by mere words, rituals, and gestures; and an authentic faith marked by love for the Lord, obedience to him, and a faith demonstrated through actions. Our Church is full of examples of individuals who gave us concrete examples of what it means to live an integrated faith that cares about the profession of faith but cares about the concrete living out of the faith. Think of Mother Teresa, think of Dorothy Day, think of Damien of Molokai, think of Mother Cabrini! These provide a blueprint for discipleship and what it means to concretely live out faith.
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Learn more about our faith | Strengthening family unity
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” ~Mark Twain In Matthew's Gospel, we are presented with Jesus extending his kindness to the broken and the vulnerable, restoring them to good health from all their ailments. They brought him lame, dumb, and all with other sicknesses. And because of his compassionate heart and acting with authority from his Father, he did not hesitate to work healing miracles among them. People filled with gratitude praised God for all that they were experiencing through Jesus Christ’s ministry. No one who met Jesus remained the same, they were all touched and transformed by his healing and miraculous power, more so his compassionate love. His miracles demonstrated the power of God and the magnitude of his mercy and kindness toward us humans. That is probably why the crowd never wanted to dispatch; they stayed put for three days listening to Jesus.
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