FAMILIES
So far as
anyone knows the public celebration of the Birth of Christ began around 354 AD. As it has developed over time, especially in
this country, it is coupled with the gathering of families. People come together from around block or
around the world just to be together to celebrate and exchange gifts. It’s not
all sweetness and light all the time but family is family and is the bedrock of
society. The question is, just what is a family? Naturally the first definition is people who
are related by blood, but the better definition is people who are united in love
with the purpose of sharing life and caring for one another. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, John and
Jesus were a family. Elizabeth caring
for Mary and Mary in turn caring for Elizabeth; John paving the way for Jesus
and paying for it with his life. Those acts were not done because they shared
the same bloodline but because they loved one another.
In nature
we are awed when we see a dog nursing a kitten or a monkey caring for a
piglet. Certainly Facebook has no end of
examples. In agriculture an apple tree
can be grafted so that some branches produce Macintosh Apples and another
branch on the same tree can produce Jonathans. This generation has embraced the
concept of diverse people making a family, changing forever the idea that you
must be tied by blood to be one.
I knew a
man whose drinking had separated him from his biological family. He lived in a
down and out apartment and scraped together a meager living and drank. Then
he died. To their credit, his family
arranged the funeral. At the wake several men came in who were unmistakably his
cronies. While everyone else gave them a
wide berth, the man’s sister spoke to them and they poured out their grief
telling her that he was their dear friend, their brother. He made their lives happier because he was
kind and loving and would do anything for them. They were a family.
First and
foremost Christmas is about love. It’s
love that motivates us to shop and cook and plan visits. It is love that brought Christ to us. The love of God is made manifest in Christmas
and Jesus is the first Christmas gift. Love
is the glue that holds everything together.
Instead of looking for reasons to complain about the commercialism and the
lack of religious fervor in Christmas, look for the love.
“For God so loved the
world, He sent His only begotten Son.”
(Jn 3:16)
With love and wishes for a Blessed New Year,
Carol Lemelin OPA
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