Posted on 12/30/2018 9:21:36 AM PST by Salvation
Christ Among the Doctors of the Temple, by Giotto (1304-06)
Here in the middle of the Christmas Octave, the Church bids us to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. On the old calendar, the feast of the Holy Family falls on the Sunday after Epiphany, which makes some sense. It is a bit odd to read, a mere five days after celebrating Jesus’ birth, a Gospel in which He is 12 years old. And then, next week, we have the Feast of Epiphany in which Jesus is an infant again.
Nevertheless, here we are. Perhaps, it is a good time to reflect on family life, as immediate and extended family often gather together during the Christmas season. Let us consider the family and marriage along three lines: structure, struggles, and strategy.
I. Structure – All through the readings for today’s Mass we are instructed on the basic form, the basic structure of the family.
In these passages we see the basic structure of the family:
Here, then, is God’s basic teaching on family and marriage. Here is the basic structure for the family as God sets it forth: a man who loves his wife and a woman who loves her husband. Within this stable, lasting, and faithful union of mutual support and love, they conceive and raise their children in the holy fear of the Lord.
Add to this the principal description of the book of Genesis, which describes how God sets forth marriage: A man shall leave his father and mother, cling to his wife, and the two of them shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). To this first couple, God gave the mandate, Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:22).
Thus, we have set forth biblically the basic structure of the family: a father, a mother, and children, all reverential and supportive of one another in their various roles and duties.
Note how the structure of the family take its basic form in terms of its essential fruit: procreation and rearing of children. Why should marriage be a stable and lasting union? Why is Adam told to cling to his wife and to form a stable and lasting union with her?
Because this is what is best and most just for children! Children both need and deserve the stable and lasting union of a father and a mother, the complementary influences of the two sexes. This is the best environment in which to raise and form children. Hence, the family structure of a father and a mother, a male and female parent, flows from what is best and most just for children. The structure of the family, as set forth by God, is rooted in what is best and most just for children. It is what is sensible and what is best, sociologically and psychologically, for the proper development of children.
Even without looking in the Bible, one can see how sensible it is for a child to have the influence and teaching of both a father and a mother, a male and a female. There are things that a father can teach and model for his children that a mother is not as well-suited to impart; conversely, a mother can teach and model for her children things that only she knows best.
This much is clear: both male and female influences are essential for the proper psychological and sociological development of children. Clearly, then, God’s biblical mandate that marriage should consist of a father and a mother is not without basis in simple human reason and common sense.
To intentionally deprive a child of this environment is both unwise and unjust to children. Hence, we see that the basic structure for marriage takes its shape from what is best and most just for children. Both God and nature provide for a father and a mother, a male and a female, to conceive and raise a child.
It also makes sense based on simple human reasoning that the marital relationship should be stable, something that children can depend on from day to day, month to month, and year to year.
Here, then, is the proper structure for marriage. It is set forth both by God and supported by human reason.
II. Struggles – Yet what should be obvious seems to be strangely absent from the minds of many. Sin clouds our judgment and makes some think that what is sinful and improper is in fact acceptable or even good. It is not. In our current modern culture, we gravely sin against God and against our children through consistent misconduct and by refusing to accept what is obviously true. The words of St. Paul are fulfilled in our modern times: their senseless minds were darkened, and they became vain and foolish in their reasoning (Rom 1:21).
It is clear that the family is in crisis today, and it is also clear that it is children who suffer the most. The modern Western world displays a mentality that is both deeply flawed and gravely harmful to children.
Marriage and family are in crisis due the willfully sinful habits of many adults in the areas of sexuality, marriage, and family life. This includes sins such as cohabitation, fornication, abortion, adultery, homosexual acts, pornography, the sexualization of children, and the sexual abuse of children. Add to this the widespread acceptance of contraception, which has facilitated the illusion of sex without consequences and promoted the lie that there is no necessary connection between children and sexual relations. The rebellion of adults against the plan and order of God has caused endless grief and hardship and created a culture that is poisonous to the family, the dignity of the individual, and the proper raising and blessing of children.
III. Strategy – What are we to do? Preach the Word! Whatever the sins of this present generation (and there are many), we must be prepared to unambiguously re-propose the wisdom of God’s Word to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Even if we have fallen short personally, we cannot hesitate to announce God’s plan for sexuality, marriage, and family.
Our strategic proclamation must include these key elements:
Whatever the personal failings of any of us in this present evil age (cf Gal 1:4), our strategy must be to preach the undiluted plan of God for sexuality, marriage, and family to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Back to the Bible! Back to the plan of God! Away with modern experiments and unbiblical schemes! God has given us a plan. Thinking that we know better, we have caused great sorrow and hardship for our descendants. We have acted unjustly; we have murdered our children through abortion. Sowing in the wind, we have caused those who have survived our misbehavior to inherit the whirlwind. It is time to repent and help our heirs to rejoice in chastity, marriage, and biblical family. Otherwise, we are doomed.
God has a plan and it must be our strategy, our way out of our struggles and back to His structure for our families.
This song says,
So, humbly I come to you and say
As I sound aloud the warfare of today
Hear me, I pray
What about the children?
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Sola Scriptura acknowledged by Arch Pope. Nice.
...............................................
Sola Scriptura means that Scripture alone is the primary and absolute source for all doctrine and practice (faith and morals)
First, the Bible is a direct revelation from God.
As such, it has divine authority.Second, the Bible is sufficient:
For what the Bible says, God says.Third, the Scriptures not only have sufficiency but they also possess final authority.Scripture contains all that is necessary for faith and practice.
Sola Scriptura means “the Bible only” is the final authority for our faith.They are the final court of appeal on all doctrinal and moral matters.
All the fathers, Popes, and Councils are fallible.
Only the Bible is infallible.Fourth, the Bible is Clear.
The essential teachings of Scripture are clear.
In the Bible the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.
This does not mean that we obtain no help from the fathers and early Councils - or current teachers, which are spiritual gifts to the church.
We benefit and accept the great theological and Christological pronouncements of the first four ecumenical Councils.
We have high regard for the teachings of the early fathers, though obviously they are not infallible - and have failed repeatedly.
So this is not to say there is no usefulness to Christian tradition, but only that it is of secondary importance.Fifth, Scripture interprets Scripture.
When we have difficulty in understanding an unclear text of Scripture, we turn to other biblical texts.
In the Scriptures, clear texts should be used to interpret the unclear ones.
edited from: https://www.equip.org/article/what-is-sola-scriptura/
Thanks for clarifying that.
Straight from the Bible:
Gospel Lk 2:41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.
https://www.amazon.com/MADE-THIS-WAY-Trent-Horn/dp/1683570979
Great book, recommended.
On another thread someone was referencing the old National Lampoon magazine (humor aimed generally at undergraduate males) of the 1970s-1980s, so soon after the Roe v. Wade decision, there were jokes being made about having to get an abortion for a girlfriend found "inconveniently" pregnant.
Ah, “you don’t see it.”
In the old rite this feast was celebrated 2nd Sunday in January a week after Epiphany and was when Dad took our Christmas tree down. Gospel was when Jesus was 12 and left in the Temple
I remember that and I liked it that way.
Ah! I did see it.
As I read it I wondered how many Christians could show by their actions that they did not partake in the sins mentioned by Monsignor Pope:
sex outside of marriage, same-sex “marriage,” divorce, contraception, abortion, reproductive technologies, a lack of modesty, pornography, transgender identity, and homosexuality
It’s not what people say about the Bible — it’s what they do. God will be the judge.
So, you see, I had a completely different take on those words.
And yet, if ANYONE could keep the commands and pass judgement, then why did Christ have to die?
It is because all are sinners and are in need of a savior. I certainly was.
that is the definition of our humanness!! :-)
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