Friar’s Corner: The joy of healthy family life
Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR
This week, within the eight days after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Thinking about this holy family is especially vital today, when the family is so much under attack by the "dark-side forces" in our world. We need to be clear about what God has to say about the family. The family is the "bedrock" of all life on earth, animal and human. God set up a process of creation and generation. We see it in most animal life in having young and preparing them for adult life.
From the earliest verbal history of Israel we see a man and a woman being drawn by God together to form a new unit of creation, to help create offspring, care and protect them and educate them to maturity so they can go on to propagate the earth. In Genesis Adam asked God for a suitable companion to help him. God gave Adam a beautiful wife, Eve, as a companion, helper and lover to help create and educate God’s children. Because of the Fall humanity took an alternate path leading to destruction.
It is not easy to leave the parental home and for one man and one woman to come from different backgrounds and traditions and form a new family unit from the their likes and differences. There must be much give and take after the sexual activity somewhat quiets down. Creating a child can be exciting yet there is then some twenty years of care and formation to ready each child to live independently. Because of the breakup of the family the children, especially the males, can be confused about the male identity and responsibility. If children have not been really loved, cared for and directed, they are confused about how to properly function according to God’s plans. The family is a "home church" where the children learn the basics of life first in proper balance.
All this "gay crap" and same sex things are lies from the dark side. We are either male or female as God determined at our conception. Same-sex couples cannot procreate children because the proper sexual organs are not there. We need to be very clear about that. It may be "a union," but not a marriage. "The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults" is very helpful for understanding more of this. It is covered in the central section of the book about the Christian Family characteristics. See pages 373ff.
St. Paul’s second reading today to the Colossians is very helpful to these points about human behavior and respect in families.
Because you are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt love, with kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Christ’s peace must reign in your hearts, since as members of the one body (the church) you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness Let the Word of God (in the Bible), rich as it is, dwell in you. In wisdom made perfect, instruct and admonish one another. Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns and inspired songs. Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:12-18)
These things are not easy to accomplish yet the special divine graces (powers) which flow from the Sacrament of Marriage help us to accomplish the over our lifetime as God draws us to heaven. May the special light of Jesus and the Holy Spirit help you to understand these things.
Peace and all blessings,
+ Fr. Bob Hilz
(© 2015 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)
