Human beings are communal creatures by their very nature. God made them so for a reason. His intention from the beginning was that marriage and the family would be a worldly reflection of the community of life and love that is characteristic of the Holy Trinity. Given that everybody is meant to be born into a family, the communal dimension of personhood is naturally provided for, at least in theory. When that aspect is missing, nearly everything goes awry.
Recent reports indicate that more than half of the children born in our country do not begin their lives with the benefit of a mom and dad who are married to one another. This situation wreaks havoc on the elemental need of human creatures to grow up in a community of life and love that we call a family. Sadly, the very definitions of marriage and family are under assault by liberal-minded factions of our society who have little, if any, understanding of the irreparable damage done to a civilization when its most basic structure and foundation is redefined. The consequences of such societal erosion are no longer only evident in far-away places. They affect us all, and oftentimes the harm done is experienced within our own homes.
An insight we need to accept and share is that what the Church proclaims regarding marriage and the family is a saving remedy for the world in which we live. The truths revealed by God in their fullness through Jesus Christ call for valiant efforts to protect and preserve these very structures that are crumbling right before our eyes. The establishment of marriage as one man being joined to one woman for the purpose of creating a family together is rooted in God’s revealed wisdom about humanity. Recent court cases about protecting the practice of polygamy or about declaring the “personhood” of chimpanzees indicate how far astray we have gone from reflecting God’s communion of life and love in our human relationships that make up a family.
But not all is lost. The genealogy of Jesus Himself, proclaimed in one of the Christmas liturgies, was itself littered with familial irregularities. The primary message of Christmas is that we have been redeemed. No matter what our personal background, no matter how messed up our family life was or is, no matter how far we have drifted from reflecting God’s love in our own relationships, we have been saved by a Father’s love made manifest by the power of His Spirit in the wondrous birth of His Son. The original community of love, the Holy Trinity, strengthens each and every communion of love here on earth, if only we allow it. And we have the flawless unity of the Holy Family as a reminder of what true love should look like in our own homes.
The Sacraments of the Church provide divine power and grace capable of repairing and restoring broken or strained relationships. The sadness and anxiety that many experience during the holidays can be mitigated by the worthy reception of Confession and Communion—Sacraments of love that bring us into more intimate union with our Lord, and ultimately with one another.
May this Christmas season be a time during which we understand and appreciate more fully the true meaning of love between persons that sustains genuine communities of love, which we call families. Such divinely inspired structures are the basis of the parish family and also of the broader community, and they help to provide us with the peace and harmony we all desire and deserve to enjoy throughout this life, and into the next.
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