The day after the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Church celebrates his two chief disciples, Saints Timothy and Titus . By coincidence, the first readings (either from 2 Timothy or Titus ) and the Gospel passage (which is the conclusion of Saturday’s story) refer to family.
In the first readings, Saint Paul Timothy his “dear child” and Titus his “true child in our common faith.”
In the gospel, Jesus says his true family -- his brother and sister and mother -- are those who do the will of God.
So let’s think about the symbol of family and how we use it in church.
Catholic and Protestant churches often use familial titles: especially brother, sister, father and mother. That custom comes straight from the Bible and it’s very dear to our hearts. It demonstrates our real affection for one another, and the trust and confidence we should have in one another. Addressing one another with familial words helps us to experience our oneness in the Body of Christ. We are joined not at the hip but in His blood.
But today’s gospel also shows the problems that can arise when a church has too many biologically related brothers and sisters. The great scripture scholar Father Ray Brown believed that Jesus ’ family may have tried to get control of the early church. Weren’t they related to him, after all? There was certainly precedent for giving power to the immediate family of powerful men. And Saint Luke
Even today too many family ties can sabotage the life of a church. A pastor told me of his church in New Mexico
A Christian community, by definition, reaches beyond family, ethnicity, language and race. If it prefers anyone, it is those who are filled with the Holy Spirit. When it looks inward for leadership it turns to those who are wise in the Holy Spirit. Family ties can plague a parish. Historically it’s called nepotism, from the Latin word nepos meaning nephew.
On this feast of Saint Timothy Titus , we pray that our Church will welcome everyone with the affection of brothers and sisters, and be free of the dysfunction that sometimes plagues biological families.
P.S. -- I appreciate any and all comments you might give me. Unlike the homily in church, there is space in the blogosphere for interaction.
Wow! I think I have worked out my technical bugs, thanks to my hubby. I am very excited about being able to respond to the homilies. I have often yearned to do so at Mass, but there never seems to be the situation to speak to the homilist. So thank you for this wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteAs for today, here are some of my thoughts. Recently on fb, several people have posted about how they want to thank their marvelous parents or gloat over their super children or relish their wonderful siblings. Some of us do come from very dysfunctional families. We need to create new family structures to break the old molds. It just makes me realize that we are talking about real people with real flaws - or sinful natures. We all struggle with imperfect families. Of course the Church made up of imperfect people will be imperfect too. That's the great thing about being Catholic. I don't have to be perfect to belong. We all need to continue to strive for the perfect love of Christ.