Today’s Gospel Story for the Feast of the Holy Family (Luke 2:22-40) is Jesus being presented in the temple, and being welcomed by two people who had devoted their lives to waiting for the Messiah. In the midst of all the commotion surrounding the birth of Jesus, they help Mary and Joseph see the birth of their son as well as their own lives in a new and richer perspective as part of the unfolding of God loving his creation.
These days our families are also in the midst of our own commotion. We are welcoming our Marne soldiers back to us and facing the challenges of reintegration inherent in any redeployment, while our brothers and sisters elsewhere are sending their soldiers away or waiting in the usual uncertainty that accompanies all deployments.
Families are important everywhere, but especially with us in the military. We are unique in that it is routine for our families to be separated often and for long periods of time. Our families have a strength that we take for granted and that is unknown and unappreciated outside the military. The phrase “I am an Army Wife – I can do anything” does not go far enough in describing our everyday life. Our children have a depth and strength of their own that most do not recognize now, but which will serve them well later.
Our tradition teaches us that family life is sacred, but we can get so caught up in what is going on that we do not know the richness and depth that is ours. In the Opening Prayer we pray, “In history’s moment when all was ready you sent your Son to dwell in time”. We could go on to say, “In history’s moment when all was ready, you sent each of us”. It is easy to forget God loving us in and through our family, in good times and in bad. It is easy to feel alone and frightened, bewildered and frustrated, perhaps angry. It is easy to feel there is an “ideal” to family life and that we do not measure up to it. From time to time all of us need to pause and try to be open to the grace of what is going on in our family, to let God show us by whatever means he chooses that each of us in our family is important and necessary for all in our family, and that the hardships we experience have a depth and importance of their own as they help us grow in our love for each other.
Our military culture is justifiably proud of our interest in caring for our families, and helping each other. Yet there are always families who are off the radar screen, and these, too, need our help. Our single parent families are especially important and necessary and need the support and understanding, and not the judgment, of all of us.
If we can be alert to the Story, we might be led to sense God working in us to lead us to be more aware of each other, both in our family and among our families. We go on to pray, “Teach us the sanctity of human love, show us the value of family life, and help us to live in peace with all men”. Our family is where we learn life. Family life is not always ideal. Often there is pain and suffering unknown to others, yet which may have to be addressed by others. There is still the mystery of God loving us through each other. What this means is something each of us has to learn in our own way, being ready for the unexpected grace, trusting enough to go wherever it takes us. “In history’s moment when all was ready . . .”
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