Strong Societies, Strong Churches, Built On Strong Families

Feast of the Holy Family 2024

Simeon and Anna knew just as the little family walked into the Temple with their pair of pigeons that something wonderful was going to happen. The human family torn apart by sin was being reconstituted in faith and love.

There’s a critical moment in Milton’s Paradise Lost that involves the first family, Adam and Eve with no children yet. They’ve been having whiffs of the evil genius we call Satan, but they are dutifully preparing to go out from their bower and tend the garden God planted. They did not yet have sin, so they were still “in control” of their passions and minds and hearts. Eve has what she thinks is a good idea, a way to make their care of the garden more efficient and effective. (She is the first engineer.) She suggests: “Let us divide our labors; thou, where choice

Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind

The woodbine round this arbor, or direct

The clasping ivy where to climb;” And then she adds: “I,

In yonder spring of roses intermixed

With myrtle, find what to redress till noon:”

Adam remembers that they were warned by God’s angels of the plan of Satan, the fallen chief angel. He is kept from happiness by his own self-will. The man says:

“other doubt possesses me, lest harm

Befall thee severed from me; for thou knowest

What hath been warned us, what malicious foe

Envying our happiness, and of his own

Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame

By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand

Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find

His wish and best advantage, us asunder;”

That is the case. Satan’s fondest wish is to attack them severally, individually before they can discuss their plan. And that’s exactly what happens. Eve is tempted to take the fruit they were both warned against—the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. She does, and then Adam, not wanting to be taken from her companionship, does the deed himself. They find themselves ruined, naked and unprotected. God does promise eternal warfare between humans and Satan, and ultimate victory over the forces of evil, but this is a valley of tears and strife until that day when Christ conquers evil, sin and death and we are raised up to His Kingdom. We must remember that Satan works for his own devious pleasure by separating family, dividing man and woman from each other and parents from their children. Jesus pulls us together into a family, whether it’s the trinity of Himself, Mary and Joseph, or our own community of faith here.

Listen to these words of Jesus ben Sira from the Septuagint or Greek collection: “Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother” Our connection to God is fortified by our relationships in our families. And the other way around is also true. Have good communication with your parents and find God to be more accessible as well.

St. Paul, who came from a strong Jewish family and observed many successful Christian ones, promoted the virtues that make families and churches strong and viable witnesses for the faith: “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love.” If these are characteristics of all members, then there will be perfect, or near-perfect, harmony, rewarded with peace and marked by constant prayers of thanksgiving.

Do you want to conquer pride in this new year? Take it from those who labored for decades with self-love and pride. When you are tempted to compare your work or success with someone else’s, give thanks to God for both labors. When you feel like telling a co-worker or family member you are proud of the person or the work, try saying you are grateful, instead. Substitute gratitude for pride and you’ll get along better with other folks, God, and yourself.

Strong families are the critical components of strong churches, communities, and nations. In the West, especially in North America, family life has been falling apart. Look around and see the number of young people who are developing a lingering hunched back because they spend most of their days staring down at electronic screens, texting instead of talking to others face-to-face. They have bought seriously into the cult of individualism. They may think they are communicating, but they are really walled-off from true intimacy with another. That has a lot to do with their low rates of marriage and the determination of a majority, even of young women, to put off or make impossible the birth and raising of children. Sure, they’ll miss some of the problems we married folks have had, but they will miss a greater amount of joy, the joy that makes human life worthwhile.