Every year, on the first Sunday following Christmas, the Church celebrates the beautiful feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The purpose of this beautiful feast is to remind each and every one of us that the most important place where we are to encounter God’s love for us is within the family. Like all of us, Jesus was born into a human family so that we might all be reminded that it is first and foremost within the family that we are to make Christ’s love present to our brothers and sisters and where we are to encounter the love and acceptance that we all desire and long to know. This beautiful feast is to remind all of us that every family – mine and yours – is a sacred place where God’s love is to be encountered.
There are some who might hear this beautiful message about the family and believe that it does not apply to their family because theirs is not like other families. No family is like other families. Each family is unique, with its own strengths and weaknesses. Jesus’ own family is made up of a woman who had a child by a virgin birth and that child’s guardian, St. Joseph. Today families are made up of married, divorced, remarried, widowed and single parents. Some families have no children, other families have many children and some even have children from different marriages and parents. This is not what makes a family sacred. What makes the family sacred is that it is the place in which those who live together within a particular family are to love and nurture one another so that God may be born there and made present to the different members within it.
Ultimately, families are to be a place where the members receive love and nurturing. The family is to be the place where each member is safe and respected. Even though Jesus’ own family had nothing, he was safe because of the loving care of his family. As we celebrate this beautiful feast and share time with our own families over Christmas, perhaps each of us can examine our relationship with our own family to determine how well we are loving and caring for one another. This Christmas is a tremendous time to tell our family members how much we love them and to strive to improve our relationships with them. I pray that we may all cherish our families and strive to make them places where God’s love is made present and experienced. May Christ always be present in each of our families!
In some ways, the parish family of St. Peter’s has become my second family. I want to thank everyone for the many cards and gifts which I have received over this beautiful Christmas season. I wish I could thank each person individually. Thank you very much.
At this time of the year so many people contribute so generously to all of our many different celebrations. I would like to thank them on behalf of all of us. The parish musicians, the coordinators of the children’s liturgy and choir, our young people, the lectors, Eucharistic ministers, ushers, counters and the many people who look after our church, have all given so much of their time to make our parish community such a beautiful place to celebrate Christmas. All those who donated to our Christmas fund and the young people who decorated the church and the many people who donated food, gifts and money for our outreach meal programme are also to be thanked for making Christmas more enjoyable to so many in our community. I wish I could thank everyone by name, but there is always the danger that I miss someone. And so I simply say to the many who give so much to our parish each year, I wish to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! All that you do does so much to make our parish a family of faith. I consider myself so fortunate to be in this beautiful family of faith.
Let us pray that God will continue to bless our family of faith and each of our families this Christmas and throughout 2016.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Fr. Michael McGourty
