J.M.J.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

I had a dream in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. In my dream, our family had moved to my grandmother’s house. (My grandmother died six years ago, and her house was sold several years later, but I had the feeling in my dream that we had moved there because this was the place I considered home.) In the dream, my wife Liane came to me and told me she wanted a divorce. I was shocked, and I asked her, “But what about our sacred vows?” She looked at me with a look that said they weren’t important to her. “What about our sacred vows?” I repeated. “What about our duty to God and to each other and to our children? Think what this will do to our children,” I told her. “I don’t care about any of that,” she said. “I just know that I don’t want to be married to you anymore.”

I found this dream very strange because this is something I am not at all worried about. My wife and I love each other and are very committed to our marriage and to our family. Now Liane and I don’t always see eye to eye; we have our disagreements, and one or the other of us has been known on occasion to raise our voices. But we are Catholic, and we believe the Catholic teaching on these matters.

“A man and a woman united in marriage form a family together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the family becomes the domestic church because it is a community of faith, of hope, and of charity.”
--COMPENDIUM: Catechism of the Catholic Church 456

Family is very important to me. I believe the family is essential for civilized society. The Catholic Church teaches that family is necessary for the human person, and the family is the foundation of social life. Further, the lay faithful, in their family life, offer to God the world itself. Family is second only to the Christian vocation which is to follow Jesus and to love Him. The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer, the school of human and Christian virtue, the place where the faith is first proclaimed to children. The Church also teaches that society has the duty to support and strengthen marriage and the family!

So as I said, I found my dream rather odd; that is until I realized that it came on the eve of the celebration of The Holy Family. Now most of the time I think dreams are just dreams. But sometimes the Lord speaks to us in dreams. We see this many times in the scriptures. The magi, for example, were warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod (Matthew 2: 12). And the Lord sent an angel to St. Joseph in a dream on two separate occasions: first, to tell Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1: 20); and again to warn him to take his family and flee to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13). Sometimes God speaks to us in our dreams, and I think even the biggest skeptic would admit that this is an interesting coincidence that I had this particular dream on the eve of the celebration of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Does our post-modern, materialistic and relativistic society support the family? The most recent statistic I’ve heard states that fifty percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce. According to the Division of Vital Statistics, one-third of all marriages end within the first ten years. Clearly, there is a crisis of marriage and family in the western world. I am reminded of a talk I heard in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“The family has a heart, and its name is Jesus. It’s love. To give ones life for others, to love… Jesus has not asked for separation from the Church. Jesus has not asked for divorce…
The family has edged into crisis. It no longer sees the light… In the family where there is no prayer, in the family that is not raised in the spirit of Jesus’ Gospel, where there is no Christian love, where there is no profession of faith, there is no experience of faith. My God is alive! I need Him! I love Him! The Christian community, the Christian family, must understand that it has an assignment to show the greatest love, to show what Jesus has shown to the Church. He has given Himself completely to the Church. That is why Our Lady asks for Jesus to be in the center of the family because He has given Himself for the family…
We can observe a right of marriage that lasts to this very day, that was sustained. When the bride and the groom enter into marriage they bring a crucifix with them. The priest blesses the crucifix. And the bride and the groom, both holding each other, hold the cross. They place their right hands on the cross, and they exchange their vows and promises. When the right, the sacrament, is complete, the priest tells them, “Now you may kiss the cross.” With a moved heart, they kiss the cross. And that cross returns back into their family, and they know this is where our marriage was born. This is where our family is born, in the Cross of the Lord.
And there, where the cross is placed in their home, they pray together every day. The husband and the wife first pray. And when the children are born, they may also bring us the children to pray before the cross, and always the cross is kissed. And we are certain knowing who protects us, whose defense and protection we are under. Jesus is over us. And when crisis comes in marriage, difficulty, war, hunger, sickness, there is no divorce here. No, we truly do not know about divorce. Look (at the cross)! Look at (the cross in) my hands! How can a husband say, “I’m leaving my wife?” I must leave Jesus, and if I have left Jesus, what do I have left? No! I must know the teaching at my wedding. My husband, my wife, is my cross. How am I to throw away my cross? How am I to leave my husband? He is my cross. How am I to leave my wife? She is my cross. I must accept and carry my cross. That is the mystery of marriage. That is the sacrament – to be for others. I am consecrated with this cross, to carry you, with love to carry you, that I may always be able to forgive you. And in that family that is holy, that is born from the cross, Jesus. Jesus.”
--Father Jozo Zovko

“Dear children! This is a time of grace for the family, and therefore, I call you to renew prayer. May Jesus be in the heart of your family. In prayer, learn to love everything that is holy. Imitate the lives of the saints so that they may be an incentive and teachers on the way of holiness. May every family become a witness of love in this world without prayer and peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
--Our Lady of Medjugorje, October 25, 2004

Anticipation

Advent is a season of anticipation, a time of joyous expectation and devotion as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. My children are certainly excited. Dusty is already keeping tabs on the brightly wrapped packages that are accumulating under our Christmas tree, and little Isabella looks in wonder and fascination at the lights and ornaments.

Wednesday at work, I was talking with my friend Maryann, a nursing assistant who moved to the United States from Kenya about four years ago. I asked her if she missed Africa, and she told me no. “What I miss is church in Kenya,” she said. “In Kenya, all week long everyone looks forward to going to church on Sunday. In America, the ballgame is church; Hollywood is church. In America, everyone talks about the ballgame or the movie. In my country, in Kenya, everyone talks about how great God is and what He has done for them in their lives.”

I told Maryann that this devotion to God reminded me of Medjugorje. “In Medjugorje,” I told her, “everyone goes to Mass every day, the whole village. This is what the whole world is supposed to be like. If the whole world had this devotion to God, if everyone were putting God in the first place in their lives, then we would not be confronted with the things this world is now facing.”

Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD.
--Psalms 33: 12

Maryann’s words about American society’s values ring true to me. In our neighborhood, the houses are brightly lit with icicle lights, and the yards are decorated with mechanical deer and giant inflatable snow men and snow globes. Sadly, the Nativity in my front yard is the only one on the block. And I can see this conflict of values reflected in the understanding of my eight-year-old son.

Last week, Dusty and his Mom went to see THE NATIVITY STORY (I stayed home with Isabella who had a nasty case of the pink eye). Liane told me that after the show was over, Dusty said, “That was a really good movie!” It was very encouraging for me to know that Dusty was excited to see this film about the birth of Jesus, a story that we’ve read and talked about many times. I’m very encouraged that he understands what Christmas is really about. On the other hand, he is very excited about the presents…

A few days ago, I watched THE NATIVITY STORY. It was incredible. While the film was not without flaws (especially regarding Catholic teaching about Blessed Mary)…

Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.”
--Luke 1: 39-56

…I found the movie inspiring. The portrayal of St. Joseph was brilliant! Mary and Joseph believed what the Lord had spoken to them, and as they went on their journey, we saw Joseph’s integrity, strength, and resolve. We saw the relationship between Mary and Joseph developing based on devotion to God, trust and virtue.

Another part of THE NATIVTY STORY that I really liked was the portrayal of the three kings. They recognized the signs of their times, and they traveled over deserts and mountains and barren plains, enduring many hardships, all the time anticipating the birth of the Lord of Lords, the Priest of Priests, and the King of Kings. And when they presented their gifts to the newborn Christ Child, the sense of wonder and awe and holiness…

As I ponder on these things, I ask myself, “What gifts am I bringing to Our Lord?” As for me, the thing I am most looking forward to on Christmas day is going to the Christ-Mass.

I wish for all of us to embrace the true Spirit of the season as we anticipate this most joyous and Holy Day. Have a Blessed Christmas!

Apostle Paul in Prison

By Rembrandt



Back in September, I was looking for a picture to go with my thoughts for “See the Light.” I searched the internet for an image of Paul on the road to Damascus, and I could only find two. One was like a cartoon, simplistic and suitable really for only a child’s book. The other I posted: a black and white drawing of Paul, fallen from his horse and shielding his eyes from the intense light, and we see an image of Christ in the light. The artist is unknown to me, or I would give him or her credit.

I looked through hundreds of other paintings, drawings, and icons, but I knew that Rembrandt’s painting of the “Apostle Paul in Prison” was the right one to use. Some weeks later, I sat studying this portrayal of Saint Paul, and I was struck with how masterfully the artist had captured the character of the Apostle.

This is my comfort in affliction, your promise that gives me life.
--Psalms 119: 50

The first thing we see is that Paul is sitting in a dark prison cell, but the Apostle is not in darkness, he is in the light. He is an old man, and so this must be soon before he is to be executed. But there is no fear or despair in his face. In fact, when I look at his face, I can easily imagine him dressed in a black suit with a yarmulke and a prayer shawl; he looks like a rabbi to me. I see kindness and gentleness and thoughtfulness in his countenance. And like a rabbi, the old Apostle spends his day in prayer and contemplation of the scriptures.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path…
Truly I love your commands more than the finest gold.
--Psalms 119: 105 and 127

We see a sword in the shadow off to the side. We are reminded that Paul who was Saul once persecuted the Christians, even to death. But the sword has been put aside, and we see in Paul’s hands parchment and a writing instrument. And we see the sacred texts piled close beside him.

Though distress and anguish come upon me, your commands are my delight.
--Psalms 119: 143

Finally, we see that the Apostle has one shoe on, and one shoe off, symbolic that Paul has one foot in this world, and one in the next. Indeed, in his Letter to the Philippians, Paul writes:

For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, (for) that is far better. Yet that I remain (in) the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again.
--Chapter 1: 21 -26