Friday, 12/30/11
The picture of Mary, Joseph
and Jesus together in the stable turns our thoughts to our own family life. There is a fine reading
about family life in the Book of Sirach. It lists five benefits that come to
those who are good family members. They atone for their sins. When they pray
they are heard. They store up riches in heaven. They will be given long lives. And, in turn, they will be
gladdened in their old age.
There is a story about three
generations of a Chinese family. (To me it backs up the Bible' promise that in our old age we will be treated in the same way we treated the elderly when we were young.) The grandfather in the story had lost the ability to enjoy
life or to be useful, so his son put him into a wheelbarrow, and wheeled him to the top of a long bridge
over the Yangtze River. His son came along to help heave grandfather over the
railing. When the heave-ho time came the son said, “Don’t throw the wheelbarrow
over.” “Why. Son?” the father asked; and the boy said, “I’ll need it to wheel
you up here someday.”
That reading from the Book of Sirach promises rewards that are
particularly meant for young people. But what family life can old people have?
Well, it is there for them if they can get out of their selves. People are
paying three hundred dollars for good seats at Monday’s Gator Bowl. That
doesn’t allow them to suit up and to catch passes. It just let’s them share in
the feats of the young fellows on the field.
Once when someone standing
nearby told Jesus that members of his family were waiting to see him, Jesus
told them that his family included all men and
women, old and young, who attempt to live according to God’s law. I say that living in
accord to God’s law is a small price to pay if it lets me be counted among Our
Lord’s close family.
Look around you. All you can see are God’s children. He loves this one, that one, and that one
too. He appreciates it no end when you become a brother or sister to any lonely ones who are his children.
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