The Stuff of Legend

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Blessed Mother, Holy Family, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, St. Anne, St. Joachim, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

A legend, the dictionary says, is “a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.” Today’s feast in Christianity celebrates the parents of Mary, mother of Jesus, even though we know nothing factual about them except the fact that they existed. Even their names (Anne and Joachim) come from a legendary source written more than a century after Jesus died. “The heroism and holiness of these people, however,” (says franciscanmedia.com) “is inferred from the whole family atmosphere around Mary in the Scriptures. Whether we rely on the legends about Mary’s childhood or make guesses from the information in the Bible, we see in her a fulfillment of many generations of prayerful persons, herself steeped in the religious traditions of her people.”

I smile as I think of St. Anne, whose name I carry (Lois ANN) and have cherished as grandmother throughout my life, imagining what she must have been like. I see her caring for and teaching Mary the small tasks of the household and showering her with love as my own mother did with me. There is comfort and joy and no harm at all, I think, in this kind of imagining and so I will go about this day reflecting on this spiritual grandmother of mine whose life gave birth and much more to the one we call Blessed.

Joseph Was Silent

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Father, Holy Family, humility, obedient, silence, Sisters of St. Joseph, spouse, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worker

Today Catholics around the world celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church and the “silent partner” of Mary, in what we know as the Holy Family. I say that Joseph was silent because although he appears in several places in the gospels, there are no words attributed to him. It is up to us to imagine his part in the conversations that took place in family life, their travels and other significant events. That can be difficult for people who desire to know more about Joseph but much easier for those with active imaginations.

As I think of it, that is true for us with much of Scripture. We need to take the descriptions of events and fill-in the blanks where conversation is lacking. Those of us who live under the patronage of Joseph, e.g. Sisters of St. Joseph, carry him with us – most likely as a reflection of how we try to live our commitment to the religious life. What we can say about Joseph is that he heard God speaking to him in dreams, trusted what he heard and was obedient to God’s messages throughout his life.

I envision Joseph as a loving, gentle and kind spouse and father, humble about his work and his role in God’s plan. Although we do not hear him speak for himself, his humility and willingness to carry out God’s plan is evident in his actions. I have come to love the portrayal of his silent acceptance and way of moving through life as gift. Often words fail when God intervenes in our days in special ways or surprising moments. I believe Joseph treasured these events in his life and that they anchored him when the difficult moments came. Silence was his home, I think, and it served him well.

May Joseph’s gift of silence be a prayer to bless each of us today and may his love for God and his family be an example to all. Happy Feast!

Holy Family

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brother, connected, family, Holy Family, New Year, nuclear family, one family, one world, sister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today, the feast of the Holy Family, I am flooded with memories and gratitude for the blessings of my youth. The luxury of growing up with an intact nuclear family as well as the proximity of cousins galore is somewhat more rare these days and something to be treasured. In some wonderful, seemingly organic way, those of us who are now the “elders” seem deeply connected to the younger generation of our family. Although scattered around our country and even the far reaches of the world, on the infrequent occasions when we are together, delight is as palpable as the genetics that we share.

I know that I am privileged far beyond the boundaries of what money can buy and I wish such love as exists in my family for all people. Such love does not imply lack of struggle but rather a willingness to acknowledge our imperfections as well as the bonds that hold us together. And in our time we are faced with a new sense of what family can mean as people research their ancestry and submit their DNA to testing, learning whom they ought to be calling “sister” an “brother” in a wider sense than we could have imagined.

Let us, then, on this threshold day of a new year, recognize that we are all connected, and let us resolve to hold the possibility of “one world, one family” as our goal for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Advice

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Colossians, compassion, kindness, humility, gentlenesspatience,, family, Holy Family, John, Lectionary, Luke, psalm 128, psalm 84, Sirach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today it seems as if those who determined the cycle of readings for the lectionary could not make up their minds. There are occasionally two choices for one of the readings on a Sunday, often a longer and a shorter version of the gospel. Today, however, we have two choices from the Hebrew Scriptures for the first reading (SIR 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1 SM 1:20-28), two Psalm responses (PS 128: 1-5 or PS 84:2-10), three choices for the second reading (COL 3:12-21 or the shorter COL 3:12-17 as well as 1 JN 3:1-2, 21-24), two gospel acclamations (COL 3:15-16 or ACTS 16:14) but only one gospel, about the finding of the child Jesus in the temple when he is 12 years old (LK 2:41-52).

Today, as always on the Sunday following the celebration of Christmas, the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). That certainly makes sense as a recognition that Jesus was born not only for the entire world but also into a family. I wonder, though, if perhaps there wasn’t some thought given when the cycle of the Church year was set up liturgically to the fact that Christmas is a gathering time for families and it might be a good idea to have some advice given in church as to how to be and act as families. I can attest to that as an effective rationale (in a rather playful way) from the many Christmases that my siblings and I leaned forward shooting knowing glances at my father as the lector proclaimed, “Husbands, love your wives,” and at my brother when hearing, “My son, take care of your father when he is old…” It was all light-hearted posturing, as all of us consider ourselves lucky to have been blessed with our family, but this morning it got me thinking when I saw all the reading choices. “Family” has become a word that today describes myriad gatherings of individuals, not always what in the 1950s in the USA was considered the norm: two parents, two children (a boy and a girl) and a dog – a gross misrepresentation even then. Diversity reigns now more than ever. (I often speak of my Polish family, my Italian family – both love-based “adoptions” of long-standing – and my Sisters of St. Joseph family as well as my Irish family of origin.) No matter our ways of bonding I think Paul’s letter to the Colossians wins the day today for good advice to all for the way we should consider and treat one another.

Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If one has a grievance against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also do. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together. Christ’s peace must reign in your hearts since as members of one body, you were called to this peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish each other, singing psalms and hymns and inspired songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.