Obituaries

Aaron J. Girvan

WITHIN THIS WEEK of Christmas many of us are celebrating another religious feast that closely connects to our celebration of Christmas, that of the Holy Family. We remember this special family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus who followed the will of the Father and brought the gift of salvation into the world. It is a good opportunity to thank God once again for the gift of salvation but also to learn something from the Holy Family that might have a positive impact on our own families. 
Many of us have just had large family gatherings at Christmas so we&rsquo;re well aware of the blessings and the difficulties of family life. There are times when we love our families and are glad to spend time together just as there are times when family gatherings can be burdensome or worse. For better or for worse, our families are a very important part of our lives. 
It is in our families that our faith is begun, formed and shared. Parents are the first teachers of their children in everything, including faith, and they bear a huge responsibility in teaching their children about God and the world. When greeting people at the doors of the church, I always enjoy seeing a mom or dad carrying a child and teaching him or her how to make the sign of the cross when entering the church. Parents teach these simple religious customs and so much more as they form and shape the early lives of their children. 
The Second Vatican Council restored the ancient idea of the &ldquo;domestic church,&rdquo; which refers to families as a home church, a place where the faith is initiated, nurtured, and celebrated. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, declared: &ldquo;In what might be regarded as the domestic church, the parents are to be the first preachers of the faith for their children by word and example.&rdquo; So then, the lived-out faith of parents has a very big impact on the current and future faith life of their children. A &ldquo;do as I say and not as I do&rdquo; attitude on the part of parents will only serve to harm the faith life of the children. Parents must be good examples as well in living out their own faith. 
As a matter of fact, every member of the family has a role in the collective faith life of the family, though those roles do change with time and circumstances. Some families still operate out of the notion that only the mother is the locus of faith in the family- the mother is the nurturer, and therefore the one closest to God. In these families the father&rsquo;s lack of participation in a faith life is a given and leads to a rather unhealthy understanding of faith life. 
In the best of family situations each member contributes a valuable presence to the collective faith life of the family just as they contribute to other aspects of the family. It is in this lived-out experience of our faith lives that the example of the Holy Family is most useful. Obviously, Mary, Joseph and Jesus were extraordinary people who were very dedicated to God. But they were &ldquo;real&rdquo; people as well. They were not statues- they had feelings and emotions, likes and dislikes, joys and sorrows. 
Each of them played a role in the family- Joseph, the protector; Mary, the nurturer; and Jesus, the faithful son. Collectively, they kept God, the Father, at the center of their lives and always sought to do his will. As individuals, they also sought the Father&rsquo;s will because they understood themselves as God&rsquo;s instrument in the world. Other people got to experience more of God&rsquo;s love by the way they lived their lives. Perhaps the gift of the Holy Family for us is perspective and example. May we see in them a good example to follow, and may we help others to experience more of God&rsquo;s love by the way we live our lives as individuals and as families.

Use Holy Family As Good Example To Walk With God Perspective Father Bob Timchak