Good Sunday morning! Today we celebrate the Holy Family! Imagine what it must have been like for Joseph with a wife and tiny baby born outside after traveling from Nazareth to get counted in the census. "Now," he must have been thinking, "I have to get this family home safely." But King Herod had other thoughts, and he sent his men to kill all the babies born in Bethlehem… He meant to kill future kings who might steal his reign. We also honor those Holy Innocents. What meanness can be done in the name of power and neglect of the innocent and poor. In a dream, Joseph heard, "take the baby to Egypt." So, he packed up the baby and Mama and head south into Egypt. This is all Scriptual, thank God for the evangelist Luke. But how many of us are on the road, homeless or close to it? How many today are so poor they will be homeless this week? Today is a time for us to dig deep and give, providing for the poor and homeless and finding work for the Fathers. Remember the WPA.
The Scriptural readings today (see for example Sirach 3:2-14) celebrate the Family and use words "reverence, honor, obedience, comfort, and kindness." There’s no easy way to get around it: being disobedient, dishonorable, mean, unkind, and ignoring others is NOT in God’s plan. Today is a good day to heal and forgive. To give comfort. I had to heal and forgive when I was handed the Bible in a small chapel in the Holy Land in 1991. As I read the words, "A reading from the Book of Daniel," I realized I could not continue until I let go of anger against my father. It is not easy to let go of anger. It’s much easier to hug anger to our chest. It took years to admit, "Im OK; I give up." It all started that day when God touched me.
Time to get up and move! Today, two days after Christmas, let us make a plan. As soon as you can, get to a small store like Walgreens or CVS. I bought 2 pairs of slippers for Chuck and me from Santa (Buy one get one 1/2 off) at Walgreens and now I’m going to go back and buy some more. Buy them out! Give them to a charity that donates to the poor. For us here in Lake Placid the giving places are Manna and Bridging Hope. There is also a food distributer called Foodfinder. Go! Give! Enjoy! God bless us.