St. Maria Goretti

A couple of weeks ago, I had a phone conversation with some friends of mine, who just had their first child. And this was great news, wonderful news. I was so happy for them. I had been praying for them for the past several months. The mother was on my “expectant mother prayer lists” that I pray for every day. It’s a list, by the way, that’s been very long here since I’ve been here at St. Maria Goretti. And the happy father had called me from the hospital, to let me know that their baby had been born and that everything was O.K. So I’m talking to him, and I realize, my friend is terrified of being a father. I have never heard this guy this afraid. “What if he gets sick? What if his grades aren’t good enough? What if I don’t teach him everything that I should? What if he gets his driver’s license and gets into a car accident? What if he doesn’t get into the college that he wants to go to?” He had this whole litany of fears! And I tried desperately, even on the phone, to calm him down. I told him to take a deep breath, calm down, relax, and take it a step at a time. I told him that I thought that before he worried about driver’s licenses and college, that maybe he should pick a name for his new son and then worry about getting him home safe from the hospital. Those were the things he had to worry about now. The rest could all come later. I keep trying to picture my friend driving his wife and his new son home from the hospital, at about 10 miles-per-hour with his emergency flashers on. It’s hard to be a new father.

Today, on this Feast of the Holy Family, we hear about how difficult things were for St. Joseph when he was a new father. This week, again, St. Joseph is having a dream where an angel is speaking to him. Poor St. Joseph, you get the idea that any time he tried to get some sleep, an angel of the Lord appears to deliver some dramatic message! And this week’s message is particularly startling! I keep trying to imagine how freaked-out my friend, the new father, would have been if an angel had told him this same message. And the message was that King Herod wanted to kill Joseph’s new baby. Now, remember, King Herod was one of the most powerful, most ruthless, most violent leaders of that time and that place. It would be terrifying news to learn that this evil man feared your infant son and wanted him killed. The angel tells Joseph to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt. God was going to take care of all three of them. And indeed, when the threat was over, when King Herod was dead, the angel tells Joseph to take his family and go back to Israel, to go to Nazareth. Joseph listens and obeys God’s message. He does as he is told. He trusts in what the angel says. He put his Faith in God. And working together, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, make it to Egypt, they survive, AND God gets them safely back to Israel in one piece, despite the threats.

There’s a lesson here for us, and especially for our families today, in what St. Joseph experienced two-thousand years ago. Like St. Joseph, we too have to go beyond our fears. Sometimes, especially in our families, fear is useless. What is needed is Faith and trust. God is with us in our families and in our Parish family. God will protect us. But we’ve got to listen. We’ve got to pay attention. We’ve got to be obedient! Sometimes, our humble submission to our families and to our marriages is exactly what it takes to save our families and our marriages. Pride and selfishness will kill families. It happens every day, even in our midst.

And then, if we want our families to survive, we must have true Faith. I’m not talking about going through the motions here. I’m talking about really trusting that God is going to get us through everything!

Catholic Christian families cannot make it on coming to Mass once in awhile. They can’t survive on just calling themselves “Catholic”. Joseph got up and left everything that he knew to obey God and to protect his Son, Jesus. What are you willing to do in Faith, to protect your family?

And like Joseph, Mary, and even Jesus, we’ve got to work together to be a family. Everybody’s got to do their part. Everybody’s got to help out. Everybody’s got to realize that each person has a stake in the family survival, even kids. Sometimes, our young people can forget how much they owe their families. Sometimes, a son or daughter’s help, can make or break a family. We’ve all got to do our part.

Being a parent, being a father, being a family, can really, honestly, be a terrifying thing. Look at St. Joseph here. But with God, all of our families can be holy. With God, we can live together in peace.

Happy Feast Day today, May God bless us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!