Honoring relationships, building community, and caring for creation
by Sister Sally Ann Brickner
Nuclear --> Community --> Living Earth
On the Sunday between Christmas and its octave, the Catholic Church invites us to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Who is that “Holy Family?” Traditionally, it is the nuclear family of Jesus, His holy Mother Mary, His Foster Father, Joseph. Our providential God provides loving care of Jesus through His earthly parents. So, too, with us, we have been nurtured by our parents, grandparents, and extended family. In turn, the Book of Sirach proclaims that we are to obey, to honor and reverentially care for them when they grow old.
St. Paul extends familial relationships to include all God’s chosen ones in Colossae. He directs them, and us in our own circumstances, to put on the virtues of heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with each other and forgiving each other in the name of Jesus to the glory of God. As we grow in wisdom and grace our sense of community extends ever wider to include every person who has been created in God’s image.
More than 2,000 years from the time of the early Church, our knowledge and understanding of community have expanded to include the living planet Earth. James Lovelock (1919-2022) proposed that living and non-living parts of Earth interact to form a complex self-regulating system comprised of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and geosphere. Within this system is humankind. As conscious beings, humans can reflect upon, consider, and care about Mother Earth so that she can continue to sustain vibrant life for present and future generations of all species. In Laudato Si’ (2015) and Laudate Deum (2023) Pope Francis expressed the urgency of our care for God’s creation.
And so, on this feast of the Holy Family, we pray …
- For families, that they may strengthen the bonds of charity that hold them in unity, we pray …
- For faith communities, that they may grow in mutual love and compassionate care for each member, we pray …
- For our living planet Earth, that its elements – especially humankind – may interact in life-sustaining ways that will benefit future generations, we pray …
So beautifully worded, Sr. Sally Ann. Our call to love and clearly see we are all one. Thank you.