Because my dad’s name is Joseph and my mom’s name is Maria, they would always joke that we were the “holy family.” This joke developed over time. Because Jesus is God and Mary is without sin, if there were any problems, she would joke that it was St. Joseph’s fault. In the same way, since my dad is a permanent deacon and I am a priest, if there were any problems, it was her fault. Of course, she was joking, but as we see in the Gospel, the suffering that affects the Holy Family is not all caused by St. Joseph.

Very often, we are tempted to see the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as distant from us. If they are so holy, how can they possibly relate to the problems that take place in our family? But this attitude is the exact opposite of the purpose of the Holy Family.

The Word became flesh and dwelt in a human family, not in order to distance Himself, but to draw closer to us. During the thirty years of His hidden life, Jesus chose to live as part of a family in order to show us how important the family is, and in order to make it holy.

But the fact that the life of this family was holy doesn’t mean that they got a free pass from everyday human life or even from suffering. At what should have been a joyful celebration of the birth of her son, Mary hears these words that no mother wants to hear, first, that her son will be a sign of contradiction, and second, that a sword will pierce her soul.

So why does the Holy Family still experience suffering? They do it for us. In all our sufferings, we can turn to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, knowing that they know what it’s like. They are the Holy Family not in spite of their family life, but because of it.

At this time of year, we often experience both the joys and the sufferings of family life. And maybe we feel that because our families aren’t perfect, because there are family members who have strayed from the faith, family members who like to fight, family members who won’t speak to us, that this disqualifies us from being a holy family. But far from being obstacles to this, they can be opportunities for us to become holy families.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph experienced the sufferings of family life, so we can turn to them for help and companionship. They did this for the sanctification of the family and the world, so when we unite our sufferings to Christ’s, it can make us—and the world—holy. We shouldn’t worry about being the “St. Joseph” of the family, but should instead strive to be like him in always being attentive to God’s plan for his family even though he isn’t perfect.

Father Frank

Every year, my family tries to guess when the local radio station would begin playing Christmas music. This music forms the background of our festive activities from decorating the Christmas tree to baking cookies. For the last couple years, the song “Last Christmas” by Wham! has been particularly popular, being covered by so many different singers that it feels like every other song is some iteration of “Last Christmas.” Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a catchy song, but to hear it that often tends to wear out its novelty.

The Psalm for Christmas Day proclaims, “Sing to the LORD a new song!” We are called to sing a new song because God is doing something completely new in history in the Christmas story.

For many of us, the story of Christmas is nothing new. We have our traditions such as our favorite Mass time to attend and our usual family gathering. And so when we hear the Christmas Gospel, it feels as old and comfortable as Linus proclaiming this same Gospel in the Peanuts Christmas special. But as we settle into what is old and comfortable and familiar about Christmas, we run the risk of missing what is new and unsettling and strange about Christmas.

Perhaps what is most strange about this Gospel is what is most familiar to us today: “You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” God has become a baby in order to save the world, and He is currently lying in a feeding trough. When we think about the literal meaning of those words, they become almost ridiculous. But this strangeness isn’t just strangeness for its own sake. It points to the newness of what God is doing, perhaps the only truly new thing in history: God has become man in Jesus Christ in order to save us from our sins.

We cannot afford to let Christmas become something familiar and boring. Otherwise, it will have no effect on our lives. We instead need to receive this news like the shepherds, who are first “struck with great fear,” but after they go to see the baby in the manger, they return “glorifying and praising God.”

We are also called to encounter the baby Jesus this Christmas, and to allow His newness to make us new, so that we don’t go back to our old way of life. This new way of life might seem as strange and unsettling as the Christmas story, but as the shepherds and the saints throughout the ages show us, it is also a way of life filled with joy. When we have allowed this joy to fill our hearts, then we will want to sing a new song with the angels at the birth of Christ, even if the song we choose to sing is “Last Christmas.”

On behalf of Fr. Michael and all the staff at Our Lady of Mercy, we would like to wish you a blessed Christmas season!

Father Frank

Hopefully we all know that we are called to be Christ to others. We see this subject come up in the letters of St. Paul: “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), as well as in the popular prayer attributed to St. Theresa of Avila which was taken up by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

“Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours…”

This, of course, is quite challenging to live out as a Christian. A similar challenge came to me while I was praying with our First Reading from Isaiah, the same reading Jesus will proclaim before starting his ministry in Luke’s Gospel today:

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,

to heal the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and release to the prisoners…” (Isaiah 61:1)

If these words, which are proclaimed by Christ, are to be fulfilled by us I have a few questions to ask first: How am I to heal the brokenhearted? How am I to proclaim liberty to the captives & release to the prisoners?

As a priest, a person ordained to be In Persona Christi Capitas (“in the person of Christ the head”), you can imagine the various encounters I have regularly in my priestly ministry. You can imagine the broken hearts I encounter in the Church, in hospitals, the jail and in funeral homes. How do I bring healing?

But of course, this challenge isn’t just for me! This includes all of us; we are all called to bring healing and hope to our loved ones. You may find yourself asking the same question: how? The Gospels give us insight. St. John the Baptist was a man, a fore-runner to Christ, but also an example for you and me.  When asked if he was the Messiah, the one to bring healing, his response was to point everyone to Jesus Christ. We are called to do the same.

As a priest, it’s not me who comforts or consoles, it is the Lord who does it through me.  Advent is not only a time of preparation to receive the Lord ourselves, but to point others to the Lord and his coming.  Let us ask the Lord for the strength to unite ourselves to him who can “bring glad tidings to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners”.

Father Michael

When I was a little kid, when I was bad, the usual punishment was “to go to the corner.” The corner was a literal corner in my bedroom where I had to sit for as long as my parents told me the punishment would last. I don’t know if my parents planned this on purpose, but the way my room was positioned at the end of the hall, I couldn’t see the TV or anything that was going on in the living room, but I could hear all the fun everyone was having without me. I remember crying for the entire time I sat in the corner, and I remember when my dad came to me to tell me that I could come out of the corner. My heart would lighten, and I would be so happy to be able to be part of the life of the family again.

I think as Christians, we can have the temptation to forget that the Gospel is good news. Either we are tempted to think of it as an ideal which is impossible to achieve because we keep sinning, or we can be tempted to see it as only something to make us feel good without any real effect on our lives. But what is the truth?

In the First Reading, we hear the famous words: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.” This comfort truly is good news, but it only comes after Isaiah has told Israel the bad news that as a result of their sins they would go into exile. They can only receive this comfort once they acknowledge their sins.

My joy in rejoining the life of the family was only possible after I had received the punishment of being in the corner and said sorry for what I had done. In the same way, we can receive the Good News only after we have acknowledged the bad news. What is the bad news? We are all sinners, and we all need salvation. But the Good News is that God became man in Jesus Christ in order to save us from our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him. And this calls forth a response from us, the response that John the Baptist proclaims: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” In other words, we are called to change our lives, to repent of our sins and to receive the salvation of Jesus.

We are also called, like John the Baptist, to proclaim this good news to others. But this is only possible if we truly believe that it is good news and have responded to it. During this Advent, we have the opportunity to receive the good news proclaimed by John the Baptist, but we can only do that if we acknowledge the bad news of our sinfulness and respond by changing our lives. Then, we don’t have to stay in the corner, but can return to the life of the family of God.

Father Frank

To be attentive and to stay attentive is very hard.  It takes a significant effort to stay focused on the task at hand. And yet, this is what the Lord is asking of us in our 1st Sunday of Advent readings.  As much as we like to think we can multi-task, it has been proven that it’s better to focus on one thing at a time than to try to juggle multiple activities at once. How many of us try to juggle prayer with our daily activities, only to come to the conclusion that we are failing to pray as we ought? Currently, I’m thinking of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas, from liturgical duties like extra confessions and Masses to buying Christmas presents for my niece and nephews so that I can keep the title of “Coolest Uncle.” Yet, in all these tasks that need to be done, the most important task should be preparing my heart for the Lord and his coming.  

The Advent season begins a new liturgical year for the Church. Similar to the resolutions we make for our calendar New Year, the Church is asking us to make a resolution now. In the Gospel today, the Lord is asking his disciples, which include us, to keep watch for his coming. We need to recommit to being attentive, and to preparing our hearts to receive the Lord. Isn’t that much easier said than done? 

The winter season naturally is a perfect time for refocusing.  As the sun sets earlier each day, nights come sooner and the temperature begins to drop. Have you ever walked outside on a crisp cold night?  I feel that during these late night walks my thoughts become clearer and prayer becomes easier. Maybe it’s the cold waking me up, the silence as nature is hibernating in the darkness, or maybe it’s the awe of looking up at the stars on a clear night. The Advent season seems to help us turn even more towards reflective prayer, just as the Lord has asked it of us.

I’d encourage you to take advantage of this Advent season. Don’t get up caught up so easily in the noise and distractions of preparing for Christmas, or in the busyness of daily life. Instead, take the time to pull away and be attentive to the longings of your heart for our Lord who has come, is coming, and will come again.

Father Michael