January 4th Fast

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JMJ

 "I am also repeatedly struck by the Gospel writer’s almost casual remark that there was no room for them at the inn. Inevitably the question arises, what would happen if Mary and Joseph were to knock at my door. Would there be room for them? And then it occurs to us that Saint John takes up this seemingly chance comment about the lack of room at the inn, which drove the Holy Family into the stable; he explores it more deeply and arrives at the heart of the matter when he writes: “he came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:11). . .do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof? Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for God. The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full. But matters go deeper still. Does God actually have a place in our thinking? Our process of thinking is structured in such a way that he simply ought not to exist. Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking, he has to be explained away . . . There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so “full” of ourselves that there is no room left for God. And that means there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger  . .  In our case, it is probably not very often that we make haste for the things of God. God does not feature among the things that require haste. The things of God can wait, we think and we say. And yet he is the most important thing, ultimately the one truly important thing. Why should we not also be moved by curiosity to see more closely and to know what God has said to us?" 

(Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, Christmas Midnight Mass 2012) 

Are our hearts an open door to where God can always enter and dwell?  Or does God need to knock because it is locked, but even then do we open it?  Or perhaps, worse still, are our lives so busy and filled with interminable noise that we never even hear the knock?  As the Holy Father said, "The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have." What are we doing with all this time being saved except filling it with more distractions, with more earthly concerns that push God away from our thoughts and hearts.  And if we push God away, we are pushing away Love itself.  True Love that is generous, self-sacrificing, and above all, humble.  It is no wonder that there is no room for Christ in our hearts because humility cannot dwell where pride abides.

But what is most frightening is that more often than not we do so unconsciously.  More than push God away, we simply ignore any invitation He sends us.  Like the shepherds, "why should we not also be moved by curiosity to see more closely and to know what God has said to us?"  If God's Love does not constantly dwell in our hearts, it will not dwell in our homes.  We must refuse a dwelling place for our wants, our needs, our desires if we are to make a dwelling place for Him.

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life, will lose it, but whoever wishes to lose his life for my sake will find it." (Mt. 16: 24-25)

Do not forget that the cross is not simply the symbol of suffering but the emblem of love.  When we embrace our cross, we embrace the One who died on it, and we embrace Love itself.  Then Love will abide in us and its fruits - charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - will nourish our families and those around us.  It is not enough to learn to live with others, but to learn to love others.  We cannot expect the culture around us to be attracted to the Truth of God's Love if it does not see the fruits of it in our lives and our families.

Let us make room for Christ in our hearts, and welcome Him to dwell in our homes.  Let us strive for interior silence so we can listen for Him in our daily lives, and so we can recognize and greet Him in those we love and those we find hard to love. As Blessed John Paul II so often said, "Open wide the doors to Christ!"

December 7th Fast

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JMJ

"The family is the domestic Church and must be the first school of prayer. It is in the family that children, from the tenderest age, can learn to perceive the meaning of God, also thanks to the teaching and example of their parents: to live in an atmosphere marked by God’s presence. An authentically Christian education cannot dispense with the experience of prayer. If one does not learn how to pray in the family it will later be difficult to bridge this gap. And so I would like to address to you the invitation to pray together as a family at the school of the Holy Family of Nazareth and thereby really to become of one heart and soul, a true family." 

(General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, Feast of the Holy Family, December 28, 2011)

How often do we hear the phrase: the family is the "domestic church"?  And how often do we really meditate on its meaning?  The Church is not only the People of God but also a sacred space where God is truly present and is reverenced, adored and loved.  The Holy Family is the model for the domestic church. In his General Audience, previously quoted, Pope Benedict recalls the words of one of his predecessors, Pope Paul VI, during his pilgrimage to Nazareth:

“In the first place it teaches us silence. Oh! If only esteem for silence, a wonderful and indispensable spiritual atmosphere, could be reborn within us! Whereas we are deafened by the din, the noise and discordant voices in the frenetic, turbulent life of our time. O silence of Nazareth! Teach us to be steadfast in good thoughts, attentive to our inner life, ready to hear God’s hidden inspiration clearly and the exhortations of true teachers.”

To be a domestic church, our homes and lives must cultivate this "wonderful and indispensable spiritual atmosphere" that encourages meditation, and adoration of our Lord.  Technology and unnecessary activity inhibit our ability to think of God in our daily life, to "ponder all these things" in our hearts as our Blessed Mother so often did.  This cacophony distracts us from becoming "just men" like Saint Joseph:

"A just man, (Psalm 1) tells us is one who maintains living contact with the word of God, who 'delights in the law of the Lord' (v.2).  He is like a tree, planted beside the flowing waters, constantly bringing forth fruit.  The flowing waters, from which he draws nourishment, naturally refer to the living word of God, into which he sinks the roots of his being."*

We cannot allow the anxieties produced by the culture to wreak havoc on the peace of our souls and families.  Prayer must be an essential part of our daily life.  Devotions cannot be done as routine traditions but as acts of love; acts that are woven throughout the day in a spirit of love. We can imagine the happy quietude spent by the Holy Family, the constant self-sacrifice and acts of love done for one another, permeated by the presence of God Himself.  Let us strive to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts and homes by seeking this spirit of quietude.  And let us prepare our homes this Advent to be a domestic church where God is reverenced, adored and loved in our all our thoughts, words and actions.

*Jesus of Nazareth, Vol.III, Pope Benedict XVI

November 2nd Fast

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JMJ

". . .Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love. The constant fulfillment of the duties of this Christian vocation demands notable virtue. For this reason, strengthened by grace for holiness of life, the couple will painstakingly cultivate and pray for steadiness of love, large heartedness and the spirit of sacrifice. 

Authentic conjugal love will be more highly prized, and wholesome public opinion created about it if Christian couples give outstanding witness to faithfulness and harmony in their love, and to their concern for educating their children also, if they do their part in bringing about the needed cultural, psychological and social renewal on behalf of marriage and the family. Especially in the heart of their own families, young people should be aptly and seasonably instructed in the dignity, duty and work of married love."   

(Gaudium et Spes, On the Church in the Modern World, No. 49)

The best antidote to the current marriage malady is for married couples to have good, holy marriages.  Pope Benedict XVI recently said:

"There is a clear link between the crisis in faith and the crisis in marriage. And, as the Church has said and witnessed for a long time now, marriage is called to be not only an object but a subject of the new evangelization." 

The last thing Christ said to His disciples before leaving this Earth was to "Go out into the whole world, and preach the good news."  Married people are not exempt from this command, and are called to witness to the beauty and truth of their vocation, and their life in Christ for others and for their children.  Christ did not convert a million followers at once.  In the plan of salvation, Christ did not choose to come in the age of social media when he could reach millions by the click of a button.  He gathered just 12 men and sent them out into the world to convert the whole of it.  Marriage is the perfect missionary model.  Just as missionaries attracted their followers by first respecting the dignity of others as precious children of God, so too spouses can attract each other to Christ by daily recognizing and respecting the personal dignity of each other.  This respect and love legitimizes their motives and faith, and it is this respect and love that children see in their parents which attracts them to conversion and zeal for the faith their parents espouse.

Spreading the faith happens on a personal and intimate level.  And since marriage is the most intimate and personal of institutions, spouses must first start evangelizing the faith by living it for one another and for their children.  To repeat what the Second Vatican Council said, 

"The constant fulfillment of the duties of this Christian vocation demands notable virtue. For this reason, strengthened by grace for holiness of life, the couple will painstakingly cultivate and pray for steadiness of love, large heartedness and the spirit of sacrifice."

Marriage is a great calling, and a beautiful vocation.  Let us strive to keep our fast today knowing the nobility of the vocation, and the needed graces to fulfill it.

October 5th Fast

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JMJ

"The love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed in action, since love is proved by deeds. This outward expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor, on which indeed 'dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets.'"  (Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii, On Christian Marriage, no. 23, 1930)

Marriage is above all a vocation, a call to holiness, a call to love. Worldly concerns may occupy our day, but heavenly concerns must occupy our heart.  Daily duties should draw spouses to one another, and strengthen the bond of their covenant.  It is a worthy and necessary goal to live in mutual support, both in physical and spiritual needs.  In this way, a husband and wife nurture the "deep attachment of the heart" that is vital to a lasting and loving marriage.  How much stronger a unit the family becomes when there is unity of the heart, the wife, and the head, the husband!  

September 7th Fast

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JMJ

"When one reads of the tremendous transformation of souls in the sacrament of Matrimony, one realizes that through them, as well as in a life specifically ascetic and detached, such as in the monastery and the cloister, there can be a fiery and ardent love of God.  There is a story to this effect about St. Marcarius, the Egyptian hermit, who one day in his meditations wondered to what degree of holiness and union with God his solitude and years of fasting and prayer had lifted him.  Falling asleep, he was told by an angel that he had not reached the level of holiness of two women who lived in a nearby town of whom he should learn.  Greatly interested, St. Macarius went to the town and found the women and, to his great astonishment, found that they were married.  He entreated them to tell the secret of their sanctity, but the two women, greatly confused, assured him that there was nothing remarkable about them:  "We are but poor wives amidst worldly cares."   But Macarius pressed his question and asked them how they came to be so holy in the eyes of God.  Their answer was that for fifteen years they had been married to two brothers and had lived together under the same roof, never once quarreling nor permitting a single unpleasant word to pass between them.  Thus did St. Macarius learn that peaceful cohabitation can be even more praiseworthy in the eyes of God than solitary fasting and prayer."  (Three to Get Married, Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

Blessed John Henry Newman said,

". . . faith at most only makes us a hero, but that love makes a saint; that faith can put us above the world, but that love brings us under God's throne; that faith can make us sober, but love makes us happy."

 What places us apart as Christians?  Is it our belief in dogmas?  Our attachment to devotions?  Secularists can boast of believing in dogmatic ideas, and give over themselves to disciplines.  What must separate us, is our love for Christ.  What must infuse our life, our vocations, is our great love for Him who redeemed us from our sinful state; and likewise, loving others because Christ begged for their life as well. "This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for another." (Jn 13:35)  

Having a holy marriage and raising a holy family is not guaranteed by a singular fidelity to the commandments.  A couple, and a family can only grow in holiness if love permeates the beautiful teachings Christ gave us for family life. Living a vocation solely out of duty will eventually yield dryness, bitterness, and anxiety.  But one lived with love and fidelity will produce a fertile soil that will reap a harvest of lasting fruits: joy, peace, patience, and charity.  Love that is forgiving, humble, obedient, self-denying is not the "love" of the world, it is the love of Christ, and the only love that will bring peace to our homes, and eternal happiness to our families.