Feast of the Holy Family
December 27, 2020 •
Saint Paul, in my opinion in our second reading today, gives us the best summary off how to follow Christ in the entire Bible. You need to know the other scriptures in order to really unpack it, but it's the best summary that exists in the entire Bible: Saint Paul's Letter to the Colossians, chapter 3, verses 12-21.
One of the important things he focuses on in the middle of this reflection, is the need for peace. We want peace in our families but we don't have it. So what does he say? He says, "Let the peace of Christ control your hearts." Control your hearts. Not abide in, but control. The "peace into which you were called in one body."
The reason we fail in love, the reason we fail in unity, is because we're not allowing this peace of Christ to control us.
The saints teach us that the peace given to us in Christ by the Holy Spirit when we're in a state of grace is meant to control, to govern all that we do. We're to be guided by that peace. In fact, it's supposed to be the main sign by which we know the will go God.
So in any moment in your married or family life in which you notice that you don't have peace, one of the basic rules is you have to stop what you're doing and go and find it....
In order to have the peace of Christ, we have to be living as Christ designed us to live, as the Holy Family themselves lived. ... If you forget your place in your home, and what Christ is asking of you, read this...
Sir 3:2-5, 12-14, 14a, 16; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Col 3:12-21; Lk 2:2-40
Homily begins at 23:50