Divine Intimacy
Finding happiness 6: Family
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
Being family is important to Jesus, and He spoke of it often. Our kingdom isn’t a physical place nor is it a family lineage. It is our spiritual lineage and present experience in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:48-50).
Just as we are made to the likeness of God, a family is created to the likeness of the Trinity. The marriage is a marriage of three: husband, wife and Holy Spirit. As God the Father has begotten the Son, husband and wife beget children. From the love between the Father and Son comes the Spirit that binds husband and wife to each other. The marriage bond is the Spirit Himself, prepared to give all necessary graces to the family. As each marriage is a unique union between two unique and unrepeatable people, God has a treasure chest of graces prepared specifically for them. One needs faith, trust, and to ask.
Our world no longer believes in ‘family’. Institutions raise the child, form their thoughts and values, teaching them to be their own autonomous decision-makers. Parents are lowered to mere facilitators, coordinators, cheerleaders. In the world’s view, the parent-child relationship is increasingly disposable and easily replaced by finding peers to fill these roles. Our family of gift—the one God gave us at birth—is replaced by the family of choice—those people we have chosen to replace them. By losing the notion of family, we have lost the grace which, by God’s choosing, only enters into the world through family.
There is a heartlessness to it all that is sorrowed in the depth of our soul, and which we try to rationalize in our mind while attempting to co-exist with society. The cure is to return to the qahal of Jesus Christ, allow yourself to be formed in the heart by our Triune God, and take that love out in the world beginning with your own family of gift.
There remain only three things in the entire cosmos which are permanent and will never change: God’s love for you, the changes to your soul by His sacraments, and the family to which you belong.
(Keep an eye out for our next post from Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics)
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About the Author
A cradle Catholic, Debra Black received the gift of completing the full 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1998 under individual direction of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She repeated the exercises in 2001 and remained an Associate to the Loreto Sisters through 2009. In 2015 she was missioned through the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality to provide spiritual direction and lead the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. She also is a perpetual member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a contributor to SpiritualDirection.com and CatholicMom.com. In addition to over 40 years of professional experience including 33 years of leadership in international higher education, her public service roles have spanned city commissioner, pregnancy clinic board of director, youth and college ministry, public citizen activism, and homeless street ministry. Debra is author of Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics. For spiritual warfare: Kick Butt! The Quick Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Frontline Defense Strategies for Everyday Life; for spiritual growth: The Life Confession: A Discovery of God’s Mercy and Love, and for Advent preparation: Something is different…Advent meditations from the Gospel of Luke.
