Today we have the “other side of the coin.” The last time that I preached here at St. Charles was in the summer, and the gospel passage was about Jesus saying that he did NOT come to bring peace to earth and that family members would be warring against one another!
That was my first time preaching here! I was hoping for something a little more cheerful to talk about! Well, today I get my chance - and coincidentally, or not, the message for today’s feast - though “the other side of the summer coin” - is the exactly the same as that of the summer coin!
Today we talk about the real peace that can exist in this world - and the real harmony that can exist in families!
It all comes down to “perfection - real perfection!
When we think of “perfection,” we think of doing things without error! But that is not the theological definition of perfection!
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were perfect, but not in the way we might think! What made their family perfect was not having Jesus as a member of it. What made the Holy Family “perfect” was three things:
1) They each put God the Father first in their lives - they loved him above all things - at each and every moment of the day, in one way or another!
2) They celebrated the presence of God in their lives! They were a good Jewish family and they practiced their religion - regularly and faithfully - day in and day out!
3) They demonstrated their very real loving relationship with God by loving other people - always and all ways! Out of love for God they lived lives of complete self-sacrifice for others!
This is what made them perfect! They did it all because they loved God with all their heart and soul and strength! - and they loved others because they loved God! This is what can make us and our famlies perfect too! And this is the exact same message of the summer gospel passage that defined “perfect discipleship” for us! Focusing, concentrating, celebrating and living out our commitment to Jesus and his way of life - because we love God above all things!
No human can live an “error free” life” - not even Jesus, Mary and Joseph! No doubt Joseph hit his finger with the hammer at his carpentry shop! No doubt Mary dropped a pottery bowl full of flour in the kitchen once in a while! No doubt Jesus tripped, fell and scraped his knee when he was playing as a child!
Perhaps the difference is what they “said” when they did these things! We get to call on them and God, when we are imperfect! I suspect they called on God too!
And so, we can truly live peace-filled, “perfect” lives - pleasing to God - and helpful to our families and to everyone else - if we do them because we have our priorities straight - if we do them because we love God first and above all else - and we prove it by loving our neighbors - all of them - because we are truly all members of one and the same family!
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