Is God a member of your family?
This Sunday's Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that, when
we speak of the members of our family, we need to invite God into their
number. 1 Samuel tells the story of
Hannah who, in her barrenness, promises her firstborn son to God should she be
able to conceive. Hannah's vow deepens
her relationship with God, as the very act of making a vow implies a
recognition of God's presence and activity in Hannah's life. Hannah promises that her son will be a perpetual nazirite, destined to spend
his life serving God in the temple. This
may sound harsh to modern ears, but remember that for the people of Israel, God
dwells in the temple, and nothing can be more beautiful than dwelling in the
very presence of God: How lovely is your dwelling place, o Lord of
hosts! Psalm 84 reminds us.
Luke's Gospel also brings a family to the temple: it is in the temple that Mary and Joseph will
find the twelve-year-old Jesus, sitting
in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Clearly Jesus also believes his proper place
is in God's dwelling place: Did you not know that I must be in my
Father's house? he asks his worried parents. Jesus thus foregrounds his relationship with
God; Jesus dwells with God, and God with him.
1 John extends the primacy of this relationship to Jesus'
followers as well: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the
children of God, John writes. Jesus,
God's revelation of God very self, invites us to join in his identity as children of the Father. May we yearn, like
the psalmist, for the courts of the Lord,
our heart crying out for the living
God, the God who dwells with us, and in us, the God who is a part of our
family, a part of our very selves, so long as our heart is open to it.
Is God a member of your family?
You certainly are a member of God's!
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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