A challenging question: Do we agree with the title, “Jesus, the Heart of the Family”?
For many of us, going to church has become routine. Is Jesus the one attracting you to church? Why do you go to church? There’ll be many varied answers because each one has his/her own reason.
Has Jesus become personal to me, or is He just a ‘weekend Jesus’? To be in church means to be in touch with Jesus. I am living a cut-off life if I only live secure in the comfort of my home. To be fully alive in Christ, I must live within the family of Church. The challenge for families/communities today is this – Jesus says, “If you are Mine, I want to break your walls.” I want you to make me known to all peoples around you. Let them know what you believe in, what you are prepared to give. When we begin to isolate ourselves as individual families, we cannot experience the fullness and joy of what it means to be truly family, to belong to the family of God.
Most of us do not know what Jesus said, because we are reluctant to read the Word of God. If we ignore God’s Word, then what do we live by? Is this what God called us to? We come to church but do we know what Jesus said in the Gospel, what St. Paul said in the Readings? What is Jesus asking me to do and not to do? The Word of God is meant to touch me, to re-examine my life within the family. Our religious practices have become routine and we do what we want to our satisfaction. Then, we complain: God, why are you not listening to me? Why is it that we are resisting to read, reflect and internalize the Word of God? What is holding us back from listening and knowing God more intimately.
Vatican II says, “A family is a mini Church” – yes, we must be open to other families, to give and to receive with love. For families to find joy, Jesus must be the centre of that family. The family unit is the best institution God has created. Jesus asks: Am I there in your family? Bishop J. Fulton Sheen wrote the book, “Three To Get Married”. Is Jesus part of our good times and bad times? See what sufferings Joseph and Mary had to go through because of their love for Jesus.
What is important is the Person whom we believe in. Do we allow Jesus to emerge as the central figure in my life? Why do we feel perturbed when our world seems to be crumbling? We ask: Why are these things happening in my life? Where is our faith? Remember always that Jesus’ total trust and abandonment to His Father gave us salvation and new life!
We should not allow the world to tell us how to live as family. We must allow Jesus the Word, to be Life in us and through us. Let us pray and ask God for the grace and strength to say, “Thy Will Be Done.”