December 2nd - 1st Sunday of Advent (English) Fr. Chris
December 9th - 2nd Sunday of Advent (English) Fr. Chris
December 16th - 3rd Sunday of Advent (English) Fr. Chris
December 23rd - 4th Sunday of Advent (English) Fr. Chris
December 25th - Christmas Children's Mass Homily (English) Fr. Chris
December 25th - Christmas Day Mass Homily (English) Fr. Chris
December 30th - Feast of the Holy
Family (English) Fr. Chris
Prior to September 11th most of us would have found that the
prophecy from Isaiah was coming true. The prophet spoke of a time
when there would be peace on God’s holy mountain. Spears would be
turned into pruning hooks. We were watching that around the world.
Conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo were being resolved. Many people,
including me, thought that maybe we would see peace reign in the world
this year. We have watched our relations with Russia and China improve.
Many places in Latin America have new democracies that are beginning to
work. All of these things changed on September 11th.
Now we see how far we have to go to achieve that lasting peace.
I guess it has always been that way. No matter how often we have
gotten close to living in peace in this world, something comes along to
shatter that façade. I suppose that we have known this and
sometimes think that the prophet must have been foolish to speak of turning
swords into plowshares. In fact, even while the prophet was speaking,
the powerful Assyrian Empire was threatening his nation. The king
thought that it was to his advantage to have Judea make alliances with
other nations and then arm themselves to face war with Assyria. The
prophet told the king that was foolish. That will only lead to destruction.
The only true way to have peace is to have one’s relationship with God
in the right order. His strength and power will save the people from
destruction.
Needless to say, the people placed their faith in their foreign
alliances instead of God. They figured their strength would come
from having a well-trained army. They were wrong. The nation
was defeated, not by Assyria, but by an even more powerful nation, Babylon.
The prophet’s message speaks through the centuries to us today.
We are called, as the most powerful nation on earth, maybe
the most powerful nation that has ever existed, not to place our faith
in arms or in wealth. These things will fade. These will never
give us peace. Instead we are called to place our faith in the Prince
of Peace and in His reign over us.
I doubt that most of us would disagree. But, it’s easier
to think about the things that we can see today. Most of us know
that we have to prepare for our futures. We make investments and
put money in IRAs. We try to prepare for things on earth, but don’t
like to think about Christ coming in glory or our own death. We would
rather put that out of our minds as something far off. The prophet
and Jesus remind us that we are foolish if we only prepare for things that
are passing. We must prepare for life in eternity right now.
I guess the difficulty is something like climbing a mountain.
Most of us do that in order to see the vista from the top. But when
we get there we look around, see the beauty and then head back down.
We wonder if the top was worth all the effort. It is if the journey
there is spent well. That is what Advent is all about. We prepare
for Christmas Day, for Christ coming in glory, and for Christ to enter
our lives this very day. We do this not only by watching and waiting
for something a long way off in the future. We do this by living
the journey well today. We do this by turning over our lives to Christ
right now. Advent is preparing by doing. We do the work of
Christ by putting off the deeds of darkness and living in the light today.
Even if we don’t see it in it’s completion we live in the faith and hope
of it’s accomplishment. Amen.
Most people want to fit in. We do this in many different
ways. I’ve noticed this desire by the kinds of clothes that we wear.
I usually don’t get caught up in that sort of thing, but every so often
I find myself looking at what people are wearing and wondering if I fit
in or if it is obvious that my styles are a decade old? We do this
with hairstyles, cars, and houses. Everyone wants to have both the
latest thing, but not to be too far out front if the styles change.
We want to have people admire us rather than laugh at us behind our backs.
I think that is the greatest fear most of us live with…to be alone and
have everyone think that we are outdated, antiquated, and useless.
No one wants to be useless.
John the Baptist didn’t care much if he fit in with the crowds.
In fact, I think he took it as a badge of honor to be different from the
crowds. He didn’t dress in nice clothes. Instead he wore a
camel-skin coat. I am guessing, but that probably didn’t smell too
nice, especially in the heat of the summer. John didn’t eat food
everyone else enjoyed. Instead he ate off the land. He had
locusts and honey and probably whatever else he could find in the desert.
That sounds kind of strange to us. I would venture a guess that it
was even strange in that time. Then, when people came to him in the
desert to be baptized he called them a bunch of snakes. That certainly
is not the way you get people to like you.
John was different for two reasons. He wanted people
to notice him. He wanted to stick out from the crowds. He believed
that the vast majority of people were just wandering through life without
much meaning and purpose. They were eager to seek him out not because
they wanted to change, but because they wanted to see the spectacle in
the desert. They wanted to see someone who was odd. So, if
John were different people would come out to the desert. It was then
that he could challenge them. He could call them to task for the
way they treated the poor. He could chastise them for their disdain
for God’s law.
I believe the reason that John wanted to be different from
the rest of the crowd was that he knew that God had something special for
him to do. In a sense he couldn’t be like everyone else. He
was a prophet and God was calling him to preach and teach like Isaiah,
Amos, and Ezekiel. He couldn’t remain silent for the word of God
would boil within him like a covered pot on a stove. Eventually that
cover would burst open. If John didn’t speak the Word, it would not
be chained. It would be brought forth. The word would bring
justice to the peoples and usher in the time of salvation. John truly
believed that he was living in the last days when God would make himself
known. In fact, John was right, but not in the ways he imagined.
Jesus was the fulfillment that John preached. Jesus
is truly the Living Word of God. He would bring forth a baptism of
the Holy Spirit. God’s gifts would be poured out among His people:
gifts of knowledge, wisdom, counsel and strength would be made manifest
to all that would believe. But Jesus was different from what John
thought. John believed that God had in mind a Messiah who would be
a judge. He would strike down the ruthless with an iron fist.
He would burn in unquenchable fire the evildoers. That wasn’t Jesus’
way of doing things. Instead, Jesus would usher in God’s way through
mercy and reconciliation. He would bring justice to the nations by
a change of heart rather than through the sword. This was the way
that Jesus would live.
So Jesus and John stand as opposite pillars in the desert.
John was the fiery prophet shouting for change. Many people believed
John to be the Messiah because of his strong stands against King Herod
and the Pharisees. They figured that God must be coming to His people
through power and might. Jesus was like a shepherd. He proclaimed
instead that the reign of God would come like a lamb that lies down with
a wolf, a lion that eats hay with an ox. Jesus would show the people
that God would dwell among them even while they were sinners. Then
lifting them from fear and sin seat them on high with honor and glory.
That final fulfillment is what we yet await. We know
that our sins have been forgiven. We know that Christ has promised
us victory through His cross. Now we wait and long for the time when
the pain and disillusionment of this world will pass away entirely.
We await the day when there will be true peace on God’s holy mountain and
that all people will live together in harmony. We hear the voice
of John to repent so that we might be moved and changed to accept our Messiah,
the Prince of Peace into hearts. We need to listen to John so that
we might accept the call of Jesus. Amen.
There are places in the desert of Arizona and New Mexico that
go through very dramatic changes. If one visits the desert in the
summer of fall it appears as though it is nearly lifeless. Besides
the cactus and the sagebrush there doesn’t appear to be much there.
In fact, you can see gulches and areas of dried mud beds that you know
once had water within them, but now are dry and lifeless. But that
would only be an illusion. Actually beneath the sand and mud of the
desert lie seeds and fish eggs that have the ability to survive the extremes
of the desert during the summer. During the winter and spring when
the rains come something magnificent occurs. Those dried out areas
that were empty and lifeless team with fish, frogs, and insects.
Wildflowers bloom with magnificent colors. Desert grasses are found
along the banks of those riverbeds. Where did they come from?
Those plants and eggs beneath the mud develop quickly once the rains begin.
The fish, frogs, and other animals grow and mate before the summer sun
comes and the rains stop. As the lakes begin to dry up the fish deposit
their eggs beneath the mud to await the following year’s rains. This
cycle continues each year.
This kind of transformation is what the prophet Isaiah speaks
of when he tells the Israelites who are in captivity. He encourages
them not to give up hope. He tells them that although they do not
see it yet God will grant the victory to them. God will provide a
place in the desert that will bloom. Israel had seen these kinds
of things before so they knew that it was possible. Then the prophet
goes on to say that not only will God do this for the desert, He will do
this for His people. God will restore everything that was lost in
Original Sin. The division that exists between mankind and all of
creation will cease. No more will there be fear and discord.
God will do something even greater than that. He will end the loneliness
and fear of sickness and death. No more will God’s holy people endure
sadness due to injury and disease. The lame will walk, the blind
will see, the deaf will hear. This will be the sign that impossible
things are happening. God is bringing justice to His people.
That was Isaiah’s vision of God’s coming as Messiah.
The people waited on the Lord. When they were freed from bondage
in Babylon they thought that this must be the time of fulfillment.
Yet, as good as it was to return there was still so much more to be done.
The temple was in ruins, the work of rebuilding the nation was taking a
lot longer than they expected. This didn’t seem like victory.
As the centuries continued there were periods when things
were good. Shortly before the time of Christ Israel had been free
from foreign oppressors. The Maccabee brothers delivered the people
from the hands of the Greeks. Maybe that was the time of the Messiah.
Then Rome came sweeping in and took away their freedoms once more.
Herod was installed as king and the people once again looked for a savior,
a redeemer.
John the Baptist came proclaiming liberty. He called
people to reform their lives. He challenged Herod’s authority directly.
Maybe this was the Messiah. But now John was in Herod’s prison.
It seemed the people’s hopes had once again been dashed. John knew
that his preaching was to prepare the way for the Messiah who was to come.
It certainly seemed as though Jesus was the one that John had been preparing
folks for. Yet, even John had his doubts. He thought that the
Messiah had to come with power and swift justice. Jesus wasn’t doing
that. So, naturally John wanted to be sure. He sent some of
his disciples to Jesus to ask him if he was indeed the Messiah.
Jesus doesn’t answer John directly. He could have said,
“Of course I am. How could you not have seen it?” Instead,
Jesus points to Isaiah. He says, where there was no hope, now there
is hope. Where there was only despair, people see the light.
The blind, deaf, and dumb have their senses restored. The poor are
given justice and all people now know that God is with them.
Jesus knows that John is filled with the Holy Spirit.
He knows that immediately John will know that his life has had meaning
and purpose. For John will now go to the executioner’s block knowing
that God’s victory had begun. Jesus is truly the hope of the nations.
Yet, I know that many people even today say, is Jesus really
the Messiah. If so, why is there still so much evil and pain in the
world? Maybe our eyes are still blinded to the goodness around us.
Yes, there is pain, but there is hope. In the midst of tragedy in
New York City, millions of dollars have been collected for families.
In the midst of war, the poor children of Afghanistan are being fed by
the US. Every day people go into the hospital and have open heart
surgery where once they had only a death sentence. Many people this
Christmas will spend time with their families and friends and realize that
God has brought them together. Of course we still await the final
victory when all will be made new again. But until then we hope.
We know that the desert will bloom again. Amen.
Joseph had many plans. He had proposed to Mary and she
said yes. Her family had agreed to all the arrangements. The
proper documents had been drawn up to seal this arrangement before God.
The priest had blessed this union. All that awaited was the wedding
day when everything would be finalized. Joseph had prepared well
for his future. He had a thriving business, making furniture and
doing repair work for the people of Nazareth. He knew that everything
would be great. All of those plans seemed to come crashing down when
Mary announced to him that she was pregnant.
She had told him not to be afraid. God was behind this
pregnancy. Yet, how could that be? Joseph thought he knew Mary
well. This was so surprising. If he wanted to he could have
gone before the priest who had established the betrothal. He could
have publicly declared that Mary had committed an offense against God,
her family and Joseph by her adulterous behavior. The local Sanhedrin
would be called in to decide Mary’s fate. Often the penalty was to
be stoned to death. Despite Joseph’s pain of betrayal, he loved her
too much to let that happen. He would not disgrace her or cause her
death. He would simply divorce her quietly. He could tell the
town that he had second thoughts. That was what he planned to do.
Then, amidst this distress an angel of the Lord told him that
what Mary had said was true. Her pregnancy was by God. He had
nothing to fear in taking Mary as his wife. Despite what others might
say, despite what it would look like, Joseph would do that. Just
when he thought that all of his plans had been set, everything got turned
upside down.
I suppose that the events around Jesus’ birth might cause
us to say, “Well, of course the circumstances of His birth would be unusual.
He is the Messiah. He is the Lord. He is God.” We hear
the story of Jesus’ conception and birth with awe and reverence.
It truly is a unique event in human history. But it’s much more than
that.
The events of Christ’s birth upset the balance in Mary and
Joseph’s life. They had made plans that were now going to change
dramatically. What if Mary and Joseph had said that these changes
were too much to bear? What if they couldn’t adjust their schedules
to God’s plans? Of course we will never know, because they were willing
to be open to God doing something new and different in their lives.
In so many ways every life is like that too. Every circumstance
in our lives is like that too. For no two people are identical.
No two situations are exactly alike. Many times we have plans for
our lives or our children that don’t come to fruition. We assume
that our children will be born healthy and happy. Yet, one of them
has a birth defect. Another child battles with depression through
their teen years. A child runs away from home. Maybe they get
involved with drugs or an addiction to alcohol or gambling. These
were not our plans.
Every couple that gets married assumes that they will have
a happy and long marriage. Yet, too many couples end up divorced.
The pain of that break on the children, the grandparents, and the dislocation
that it causes affects lives profoundly forever. Some couples learn
that when they promised to love in sickness and health they thought that
wouldn’t be for many years. Instead, cancer, MS, or some other life threatening
illness strikes ruthlessly. Other couples learn that one has Alzheimer’s.
How unfair! We thought that our senior years would be spent enjoying
one another, grandchildren, and maybe travelling. Now it’s a battle
to remember what day of the week it is.
Every life is unique. We never know what will happen.
We applaud Joseph for saying yes to God when his plans were drastically
altered. Yet, how many times have we caught ourselves saying that
we could never accept a spouse who was unfaithful, or a child who got married
outside of the church, or a stroke that leaves us without all of our faculties?
Never is a long time.
Today we are told that God is willing to enter our world not
just as a baby two thousand years ago, but today. God can heal sins
in marriage. He can open hearts to accept disappointments and sickness.
He provides hope in times of grief and loneliness. We may not hear
an angel tell us that this is what God is willing to do. Our faith
tells us that this is so. At this time of year we need to hear that
even more. We need to hear that our God came to dwell with us in
all of our humanness. There is nothing that is distant from God’s
providential care. Jesus entered life in a stable and died on a cross
with thieves. Our lives are precious to the Lord. May the Holy
Spirit touch our hearts to feel that love and offer it to those around
us. Amen.
There once was a man who couldn’t believe the notion that God
would come to earth. Christmas didn’t make much sense to him.
His family believed, but he didn’t. So it happened that Christmas
night his family decided to attend Midnight Mass, but he stayed home.
He didn’t want to be hypocritical.
That night it had gotten quite cold. It had snowed earlier
in the day and now the temperature was really dropping. So he decided
to sit by the fire he had made and read the newspaper. He did this
and was sitting very comfortably when all of the sudden he noticed a thump
on the window. At first he thought that someone must have thrown
a snowball at the window. He looked out, but couldn’t see anyone.
So he sat down and heard the thump at the window again. It was then
that he noticed that there was a bird outside that was trying to get in
to the warmth through the window.
The man thought to himself, “This bird should have long ago
flown south to get out of this cold weather.” Yet, here it was trying
to get to where it was warmer. The man knew that if he could get
the bird to go into his barn it would be safe for the winter. It
was warm and dry in there. So, he got dressed up in his warm clothes
and headed outside. As he got to the front of the house where the
bird was still trying to fly through the window he made waving motions
to the bird to go to the back where the barn was. But this only frightened
the bird. No matter how much he tried to motion or to chase the bird
towards the barn he couldn’t convince it to come.
So the man thought to himself, I’ll open the barn door and
the bird can see that the barn is well lit, safe, warm, and dry.
The bird could see the barn in the distance, but still it didn’t make any
move to go towards it. The man thought to himself, how foolish can
this bird be? I am trying to show him a place that would be
safe, if only he would trust me.
So, the man thought that he would try putting some breadcrumbs
down, something like a trail to the barn. Maybe the bird would see
the crumbs and follow the trail right into the barn. It started to
work at first, but as the bird got closer to this huge building and saw
the man he got frightened again and wouldn’t come any further.
The man now was quite frustrated. He didn’t know what
he could do further to help this bird see that he meant him no harm.
Instead, he only wanted to help him be safe. He tried to use everything
he knew. You know, he wondered, if I could become a bird then I could
speak to it in the language it would understand. I could show this
bird how to find safety in the barn. I could lead it to the light
and let it know that it had nothing to fear. If only I could become
a bird…
It was at that moment that the man heard the church bells
ring. He now knew what Christmas was all about. He knelt down
there in the snow and asked God to forgive him for being a foolish bird
not willing to trust him and allow him to lead him to the light of His
Father. Never again did that man forget the meaning of Christmas.
Hopefully you and I never forget that God came down to earth
for us because He loved us so much. He wanted to show us the way
to heaven. He tried in many ways through the Law and 10 Commandments,
the prophets and the scriptures and yet we thought that God was too big,
too frightening. We couldn’t accept that love and kindness.
So, God finally decided to become one like us. He was born to a woman
from a tiny village. He was born in a cave or a stable among animals
and shepherds. Jesus would grow up and teach us all about how much
God loved us and wanted so much more for us than we ever imagined.
He wanted us to spend life with him forever. If only we would follow
the light. To show us that He meant us no harm he even was willing
to die on a cross for us. Our God is so amazing. We can only
sit in wonder and thanksgiving. So spend some time this Christmas
season in front of your nativity scene. Thank the Lord for becoming
one with us and showing us the way to heaven. Amen.
Often enough Christmas is such a stressful time. It’s
so because we have so many things that must be accomplished, or so it seems.
It is expected that we buy presents for one another. We go off to
the mall and other stores trying to find the right present for parents,
grandparents, children, nieces and nephews. That would be hard enough,
but then there is the gift for the boss, for people at work, the hairdresser,
and the person who delivers the paper and the mail. Just about the
time that we think that we have gotten something for everyone we receive
a gift from someone unexpected. So, it’s back to the stores trying
to find the right gift for that person.
It’s expected that we send Christmas cards to everyone that we know.
I know that most of us go through the Christmas card list each year.
We have a list of people we send cards to. Then each year we say,
did I get one from this person last year? We try to cross off our
list those people that we don’t think it’s necessary to send cards to this
year. But inevitably, there are people to add to the list.
So, most years the list gets larger not smaller.
We need to attend Christmas parties, do baking, decorating, and
even do entertaining ourselves. This is expected. Do I make
the same things as last year? What about those recipes that I saw
on TV? Maybe I should try to do that. Then, the decorating
of the house has to take on a new twist. Many people figure that
it should be better or different from last year. With all of those
things hanging over us we can get exhausted. You can even begin to
resent Christmas.
Usually you don’t question the why’s of doing all these things.
We just figure that it’s part of the season. Yet, behind the entire
gift giving and entertaining is something very profound. The story
of Christmas is the story of God giving us the greatest gift of all, Jesus
Christ. We see in this story a God who is generous beyond all measure.
Sometimes the gifts that God gives are not the gifts we thought that we
wanted!
The gift of the Christ child was unexpected by us. It’s
not that Israel didn’t long for a savior—they did. But they didn’t
expect their savior to come in the way that he did. They expected
that the savior would have been found as a warrior or as a king.
They figured that he would come with power, not as a baby born in a stable.
Likewise, the gift that was Jesus would show us that it was
more demanding than we imagined. Here was a gift that challenged
our notion of who God was. Instead of a God that sat on a throne
or a mountaintop this God comes to us like a woman searching for a lost
coin or a shepherd seeking out a lost sheep. Our God is one who forgives
sins, but then expects that we will do the same. We are told not
to count the wrongs done against us, but forgive 70 times 7. This
God would be open to not only Jews, but Gentiles, prostitutes, and tax
collectors.
This gift would challenge our notion of what love is.
Most of the time we love in measured degrees. We love another person
if they do something good for us. We love as long as they don’t hurt
or betray us. We love friends and family, but not enemies.
Jesus would challenge all of those categories. From the moment of
his birth he taught us that love does not seek revenge if there is no place
in the inn. It doesn’t harm or exclude even if people turn away and
reject him. This gift of love will continue even to dying on a cross.
That kind of love is unheard of.
So now we can breathe a sigh of relief that most of the plans
and preparations for Christmas are complete. Maybe we can take some
time during the Twelve Days of Christmas to ponder the meaning of the gift
of Christ. Is Christ the gift that we really don’t need or want?
Is He like those gadgets that we got a couple Christmas’ ago that we never
use or only pull out on occasion? Is Christ like that?
Sometimes the gifts we receive are not things that we plan
for or would ask for. Yet they turn out to be the most necessary.
Maybe you have received a gift of exercise equipment, but thought, I have
no time for that. Yet, you find yourself using it because you feel
better doing so. Christ desires to enter our lives but will not force
himself on us. He says only to us that I desire to bring you peace and
hope. I want you to experience life to the full. Can I come
into your life today? Will you unwrap the gift that God gives you
this year?
In present day Bethlehem there often is violence between Israeli
and Palestinian residents. When tourists come they usually arrive
on bus. The tour bus stops at the Church of the Nativity. There
the tourists get out, go into the church, take pictures, and then return
to the bus. Rarely do tourists spend much time in Bethlehem.
It’s not considered safe to walk the streets at night there. The
local leaders wanted to change the image of Bethlehem. They thought
that building a hotel there would encourage tourists to stay. But
there have been charges of corruption on the part of the officials.
The money that was supposed to go to development hasn’t. Violence
and political corruption in Bethlehem today seem so far from the images
that we have of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. But I wonder if that
image is really correct?
Today we hear that King Herod discovered that a child was
born there who was a relative of David. This child, he feared, could
eventually challenge his authority. So, to prevent that from occurring
he desires the child be killed. But he doesn’t know who it is.
So, to be on the safe side, he orders the killing all of the baby boys
age two and younger. To safeguard his power this petty king murders
children. The city of Bethlehem may not have been any different then
from the way that it is today.
I think that often when we think of the Holy Family, we have
peaceful images. We assume their lives must have been without any
trials or difficulties. We look into our nativity scenes and see
Mary and Joseph kneeling at the crib of Jesus. We see shepherds and
kings adoring lovingly before Christ in this idyllic scene. This
is the image that we store in our minds. Yet, it appears that this
image may be far from reality.
The truth is that Joseph and Mary had to travel in the last
stages of her pregnancy from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This was on foot
or donkey, not very nice travel when you are nine months pregnant.
They arrive in a city that is filled with pilgrims, so no place is available
for them except in a stable or cave with animals. It was there that
Jesus was born. Then, the Holy Family must flee to Egypt to avoid
the slaughter that Herod initiated. They lived in a foreign land
for several years.
It seems reasonable from the scriptures that Joseph was not
alive by the time Christ became an adult. Mary may have had, for
a time, to raise Jesus on her own. As you know, raising children
is not easy. There is not an owner’s manual that is given when a
baby is born. Then when Christ began his public ministry she was
alone again. Even though she must have followed him at times, it
was probably difficult to see him regularly.
Finally she was present when another king named Herod crucified
him. She watched her son being ridiculed and abandoned. What
loneliness she must have felt at that time.
Sometimes when we think of our families we think that we are
so far from the kind of life that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph led. We
might even think that their holiness and perfection makes it impossible
for them to really understand our situation. The Holy Family had
their share of pain and difficulties. They aren’t so far from our
experience of life, as we might have thought.
I do believe that they can be a sign of hope for our lives
and families. They offer a way of seeing in the world that can help
us when it appears as though our situations are so bleak. They found
strength from God and from His word that helped them. We can do the
same. Today’s readings offer us a chance to see things differently.
In the first reading, Sirach says that true honor comes in
how we care for our parents. By extension we could add grandparents
too. Caring for relatives who are aging can be very taxing.
It’s not something that we think about doing when we are younger.
But statistics show that our population is aging rapidly. It is far
more likely that at some time in our lives we will have to care for an
elderly parent or relative. To do that with kindness and gentleness
is a grace from God.
The letter to the Colossians offers other ways that we grow
in holiness through family life. Forgiveness and heartfelt mercy
are key in living holy lives. Since we are not perfect it is imperative
that we offer and accept the forgiveness of others. It may the hardest
thing to do, but it is so necessary.
Kindness is another way that we grow in holiness. It
sounds so simple. But we know how easy it is to say a hurtful thing
to a brother or sister, parent or child in a moment of anger. Yet,
those words can never be taken back. They sting in our ears forever.
To avoid saying hurtful things and instead offering words of encouragement
lead to closeness and love.
Today’s feast reminds us that there is plenty of evil in the
world. It was so at the time of Christ and is certainly true today.
We can choose to succumb to that evil or to live differently. By
caring for the aged, being kind and compassionate to our family members
and forgiving wrongs easily, we too can model our lives after the Holy
Family.