Dear Parishioners,
When I was a wee lad, my mother and I would
spend every Christmas and many weekends with my aunt’s family. My aunt and
uncle had five children. They were the only family that I knew because my
older sisters were all grown up and out on their own doing their own thing.
There are many fond memories that I have of my cousins. They never made me
feel like an outsider or a stranger since I was the adopted kid. They didn’t
care that I was not blood related. I was just their adorable, cute, life of
the party cousin. They always made me feel like family. Spending Christmas
with my uncle, aunt, and cousins was the best experience one could ever
have. I was truly blest to personally experience and know what family life
is like.
They had a wonderful Christmas tradition. My
uncle and aunt would make a wonderful, delicious dinner. After dinner, we
all gathered in the living room to open presents. We would wait for each
person to open his or her present rather than have a free for all where
everyone opened their present at the same time. Later we would change into
the proper attire fitting for the Midnight Mass. After the Midnight Mass, we
would come home and gather in the kitchen to drink Tom and Jerry’s and talk
and talk and talk.
As the years passed by and as the family
members married and remarried, we would still have our Christmas tradition.
It was easy being a close knit family in the beginning. Things became more
difficult and troublesome as potential new members came into the family and
as others left due to divorce. As I child, I didn’t know anything. As an
adult, I became more aware of the family strife and dynamics that became the
talk of the O’Dell and McElroy families.
Today’s readings remind us that being a Holy
Family is a challenge. It is a day in and day out endeavor to be holy. One
has to work at it. Every family is called to be holy. Every family is
challenged to work at being respectful, compassionate, kind, patient,
bearing with one another, and forgiving, but above all loving.
At one of our Christmas gatherings, I met my
cousin’s boyfriend. The moment I saw him, I knew I didn’t like him. I
thought that he was a jerk. Unfortunately, he married my cousin. I wish that
I had never gone to their wedding because it didn’t even last a year. He
cheated on my cousin a couple of days before their wedding. I didn’t know
about this until she told me years later. I never told my cousin what I
thought of her boyfriend because I wanted to be supportive of her. I don’t
remembered going out of my way to being kind, respective, and loving toward
him. I just avoided him. As Christians we are called to be loving and
forgiving to every member of our family, especially to the ones we cannot
stand. May we resolve in the New Year to be a Holy Family of God by putting
into action the readings that were proclaimed to us today.
Father Paul
