A friend and her family have been suffering a crisis this year, and their tragedy has been very much on my heart these last weeks of Lent. It is never easy to raise a family, especially in the modern world. Even when we try our best to protect our children from the evils of the world, they creep in, and we may not always recognize the signs until it is too late.
To add to the suffering, some around this family withdraw just when they are most needed for support and comfort. As I consider my own reaction and the reactions of others, I cannot help thinking of the readings we hear at this time of year. Even within Christ's own family of apostles, there were those who betrayed and denied Him. Those among his closest companions who ate and drank and lived with him in the closest communion for three years, yet turned away, falling prey to the temptations and evils of the world. Judas, who betrayed Him. Peter, who denied Him.
Even in the best of families, bad things happen. All of us have failed our own families in one way or another. All of us have failed as parents in some way. If we are honest enough, we all admit there are or have been situations of sin and worldliness within our immediate or extended families. The world is too much with us. It is even so with solid, faithful families. If we have been spared of falling so far in our lives, we must be grateful only to God. For it is no achievement of our own. Only by His grace and through His protection have we been spared.
Whether or not we have been spared has no bearing on Christ's call to us to love our sister in Christ and her family. We must find some way to try to understand, to reach out, to help bring healing. We must not abandon those who need their Christian community now more than ever.
"...Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone..." John 8:7
Please pray for this very good family, that they may find comfort and healing, that their deep faith will give them strength, that as for Peter, there will be forgiveness in God's good time, and that when all seems too overwhelming our dear Mother in heaven will wrap them in her mantle and carry them to rest within the Sacred Heart of her dearest, only Son.
St. Nicholas, patron of children, pray for us! St. Joseph, patron of families, pray for us!
1 comment:
We all try so hard to be good parents. Sometimes we don't know for years if we have succeeded or not. Sometimes things happen despite what we were able to do. Sometimes simple fatigue prevents us from doing everything we should have done. I understand how it feels when it all doesn't turn out as we had hoped. It is a very lonely feeling. Your friends will be in our prayers.
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