Christmas Homily

I wish to begin with a modern-day parable. Think of yourself as a juggler. Someone has handed you four balls to juggle and that person tells you to keep all four in the air at all times. One is your car. Another is your family life. Another is your home. And Number Four is your faith.

The one called “car” is a rubber ball and if it falls to the ground it will bounce back. When you lose your car in a car crash, you will find another one. The second one is your home. It is also made of rubber and if you lose it in a fire or flood you will eventually get another one. But your faith life and your family life are made of glass. If they hit the floor, they will break. Your family life and your faith life are very fragile. They are hard to repair if you drop them. This modern-day parable has two lessons for us.

When it comes to your faith life: don’t drop the ball. It will be hard to repair.

When it comes to your family life: don’t drop the ball because it will be hard to repair.

That parable reminds us of what really should have priority in our lives: our faith life and our family life. So, what do I mean by faith life? I mean staying in relationship with God. How do we do that? How do we stay in that relationship? By Word and Sacrament. By Word I mean the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. Reading the Bible is so easy today because we carry it with us 24/7. The Bible is in our cell phones. So easy to find.

The Word of God should find a home within our hearts (according to today’s Second Reading). The Scriptures are also available to us in the rosary and litanies and other devotions that we recite. Those prayers are filled with quotations from the Bible. The Word of God puts us in touch with God’s way of thinking and it is readily available for us today. All we need to do is be faithful to our daily prayers. Word and Sacrament keep us in relationship with God.

What do I mean by Sacrament? I mean the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Holy Communion brings us the Real Presence of Christ. It brings us the Lamb of God who takes away the daily sins that we have committed during the past week. The Sacrament of Reconciliation takes away the bigger sins that we need to confess. Many of us were blessed by the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the Advent season. Word and Sacrament keep us in relationship with God.

Turning now to our family life. In today’s Second Reading, Saint Paul says that having heartfelt compassion is the secret to having healthy relationships, including family life. The best symbol for this is the picture of the broken mirror. When I look into a broken mirror I see myself and I see my jagged edges and I see that I am broken….. When I look through the jagged edges of the mirror I see my family members and I see that they too are broken and hurting. They might be victims of bullying. They might be grieving the loss of a job or the death of a friend. They might be suffering from the stress of a poisonous relationship or the loss of a good relationship. They might be hurting because no one takes them seriously. Today’s Second Reading says that I should respond with heartfelt compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience. And I should forgive them if they have hurt me and I should ask for their forgiveness if I have hurt them. Having heartfelt compassion is the secret to improving family life.

I will close by going back to the parable of the juggler. When it comes to your faith life, stay focused on God and do not drop the ball. With respect to your family life, stay in relationship and do not drop the ball.