Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. It is important not to paint the Holy Family with nice pastel colors and portray them as ideal in every way. Today’s Gospel Story (Mt 2:13-15, 19-23) shows that they had troubles like every family, especially migrant families of today. The majority opinion is that from the beginning Jesus had a difficult time living among us, and through it all he loved us. It leaves the Story pretty much in the past. In spite of their difficulties Mary and Joseph remained aware of Abba taking care of them and keeping his promises.The minority report can be quite personal as it relates to our present living. The Alleluia Verse offers a worthwhile setting to hear the Gospel Story: “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, Alleluia”. This is my filter as I read today’s Story. What it says to me: no matter how dark or difficult or confusing my life is at any given time, Abba is with me, keeping his promise. I can continue to choose to be open to him, or not.
The scripture stories are not history. They are theology, stories of Abba being involved with people. As I prayerfully read today’s Story through the filter of what is going on in my life these days, I can, if I choose, ask the question, “Abba, what are you saying to me in this situation in my life?”. Or, I can get all het up and decide I am going to do whatever I have to so I can get what I want.
I look back on the miserable 30+ years of everything but peace in my heart, and I’m not sure where the word of Christ was, certainly not dwelling in me back then. I didn’t recognize what was going on until I began to deal with it constructively and it started to go away. Anger was my basic operating principle and the filter for everything I did. I inflicted it on everybody. It got so bad that, if it were not for Donny, I would not be writing this today. It was my own experience of what came to be known as PTSD. Looking back, I see some pretty powerful interventions by Abba, including having Donny in my life, things that could not have happened without Abba.
There is a saying among some theologians that is worthwhile hearing: “God doesn’t save us from much, but is with us from everything”. We don’t know what Abba has saved us from because it didn’t happen. Today’s Gospel Story shows Abba guiding the Holy Family through some pretty nasty stuff. The scripture stories of what happened long ago, if we let them, offer us insight to what is gong on in our life here and now. We all experience our own challenging times. As I learned the hard way, and I’m not alone here, choosing to let go and believe Abba is in everything, really helps us to recognize Abba happening. I learned my attitudes of “they are taking something away from me”, and “I will do what it takes to get what I want” cause more harm than good. That certainly was my story as I inflicted my anger on every body around me at any given time. Nothing was ever my fault. There certainly, was no peace In my heart, and others paid for this, as did I, but didn’t know it then.
As Mary and Joseph looked at their complicated situation they didn’t ask Abba to change anything. They trusted his word they had received when their adventure began and kept going as they were being led. While I can’t expect angels and dreams in my own life, what I can do, if I so choose, is keep asking the question, “Abba what are you saying to me in this?”, and go where it takes me, ready to respond to the graces of the present moment, the sacrament of encounter with Abba. I’ve learned not to say, “Abba, this is how I want you to do things for me in this situation, how I want you to change things so I am comfortable. Mary and Joseph simply responded to the grace of the present moment as they journeyed where they were led, a difficult journey of letting go. I think over the years I have learned to journey where I’ve been led, and especially health and injury situations where I encountered wonderful people who helped me be aware of Abba happening. I never thought that when I gave a memorial talk at a high school in November 1968 that in 6 months I would end up in the Army, and later in Viet Nam, or when I was doing the Spiritual Exercises in 1991 that in 3 weeks I would end up recalled into the Army.
There is a saying in AA: “Let go and let God”. This really is true. Abba is with us in everything, but not as an agent or fixer doing what we want him to do. This does not mean we will have an easy way of whatever our situation is. Mary and Joseph certainly did not have an easy way. It seems these days when we choose to be open to Abba we can expect challenges and difficulties, as did Mary and Joseph, also Alexey Navalny, Archbishop Romero, Berrigan brothers, Fr Roy Bourgeois, etc. Abba rarely invites us to an easy life, but is with us whatever we choose.
There are two things, separate but related: the Sacrament of the Present Moment, and the Welcome Prayer. Jean-Pierre De Caussade: “There is not a moment in which God does not present Himself under the cover of some pain to be endured, of some consolation to be enjoyed, or of some duty to be performed . . . Embrace the present moment as an ever-flowing source of holiness”. Abba is with us in every moment, and so we might learn to live along the lines of welcoming every moment, everything that comes into our life, as being of Abba. We might ask for the grace of recognizing him very involved in our every day life, especially in the people we see every day.
There is a certain peace that we come to know deep within us as we choose to ask the gift of recognizing Abba in everything in our life. It is a wonderful experience when we know we are not alone in anything. Having things go they way I want them is muchly overrated. Being open to what is and letting go of my need to know and feel in control, is liberating. “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts” is pretty much an ongoing journey and relationship of openness. No matter what is going on in our life it is of Abba, and in no way are we ever alone by ourselves. We can choose to ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly,’ and help us come to know this, or not. Just sayin . . .