Family

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Family

Holy   Purified

Imitate   Consecrate   Forgive

Put On God's Love

Joy

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Colossians 3:12 and 13

Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience for you have been chosen by God.

Bear with one another and forgive one another.

If someone has done something to harm you, forgive them as God has forgiven you.

Reflection

What are some of the elements that make for a good family?

We hear repeatedly about the importance of family values. There is much commentary also about the breakup of the family in contemporary society and how this has led to many problems for teachers in trying to educate their students, to an increase in poverty, and to more crime.

Our reading from Colossians gives us some ideas on how to make our families stronger. If we can practice more compassion, we can reach out to family members who are upset or suffering.

When we are kind to the members of our family, we begin to think about what we can do to help them. We want to do more to ease the burdens on our parents and siblings. 

Humility helps us to know our own role in the family, to accept it, and not to brag about our accomplishments or the actions we take to help others in the family. Our gentleness forges a path towards reconciliation and harmony in the family.

Patience stops us from complaining when things are not happening on our time schedule. From simple things like when we eat to more consequential decisions like where we live and the type of house we live in, we can learn the importance of waiting for the right time and respecting the schedules of others in our family.

As we work on these important virtues in our families, we know the need for strength to faithfully practice them. None of this is easy. Our reading gives us the key to following the path of virtue---we realize that we are called by God. We are not alone in building up our families and making our families holy and purified. God, who has called us, will help us strengthen our families.

If we want to bring joy to our families, another important element is our efforts to forgive one another. Yes, we want to work on the important virtues that Colossians mentions. Inevitably, though, there will be times when we fail to be as compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient as we should. We all have bad days and times when we lose that patience and hurt others by our remarks, inaction, or lack of sensitivity.

When that happens in our family and we feel that one of our family members is being mean to us or picking on us, we need to practice the forgiveness that our reading celebrates. We forgive others in our family because we know that God has forgiven us. If we have been forgiven by God, how can we withhold our forgiveness from one of our family members?

It is that type of forgiveness that helps us to put on God's Love and spread true joy in our families and in our community. 

Inspired by the love in the Holy Family, we try to transform our families through putting into practice the virtues our reading recommends, forgiving those who have hurt us in some way, and spreading joy to each person we encounter.

A great recipe for stronger families!

1. What are the best ways to make your family stronger?

2. How have you had to practice forgiveness in your family?

3. Have you been inspired by the Holy Family to try to create more holiness in your family?

4. What do you feel as you meditate on Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)