Holy Families are foundational for Peace!
Homily originally presented December 27, 2020
by Monsignor Deering
While shopping for some gift items for my niece recently ...
I noticed that a good number of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and T-shirts
had the Peace Sign as the ornament or image on them.
Store clerks mentioned that yes, the Peace Sign … the Circle with the 3 Lines in it
... so popular in the 60’s and 70’s ... was making a little comeback.
You may wonder ... where did the Peace Sign come from?
Well, it originated as a symbol to be used by a group called:
the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC).
Back in 1958, an artist, Gerald Holtom, who was on this groups’ board,
and being a well-known designer, stepped up to create a symbol for the Group.
What he created would have not only a visual but a political impact.
Holtom designed the symbol around semaphore flag positions that sailors use
to communicate messages between boats on the water.
Holtom took the Flag positions for ‘N’ and ‘D’, and overlaid them on one another:
resultimg in the Sign that quickly came to be known as the Peace sign ...
This Sign was first used in the British Group’s protest against Nuclear weapons
where the initials “N” and “D” stood for: “Nuclear Disarmament”.
Well, that sign came across the ocean to America and was quickly embraced as
the universal symbol for Peace during the confusing years of the Vietnam War … showing up on “T-shirts” and Bumper Stickers and many other places.
Today, the Peace Sign is finding a resurgence once again. Why?
Because we Americans … just like people all over the world …
are continuing to look for and long for ... peace.
Thankfully we’re not experiencing war on our soil as many other countries are,
but we recognize that we’re still quite far from experiencing true peace in our land
... in our communities, in our homes and in our hearts.
Having just celebrated the Birth of Jesus, who Isaiah called the Prince of Peace … you may wonder how it could be that peace is so lacking in this world when …
Prince of Peace was right here on this very earth with us 2000 years ago!
It was then that the heavenly host of angels gathered around the manger and sang,
“Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth.”
Where did it go? We had it right in our hands … and now we can’t seem to find it!
If everyone wants to live in peace, how come there’s so little of it in the world?
How do we find peace … the peace that everyone says they want and yearn for?
Well, the primary agency for creating and maintaining peace in our world is …
the human family.
And the Human Family ... is hurting.
God the Father showed us how important the Human Family is to having peace when He arranged to have His Son enter the world through … a Human Family.
Jesus didn’t just appear one day on Earth as a full grown man …
ready to go out preaching and teaching the people.
No, Jesus came into our world as a newborn Baby … born into a human family …
to be raised and cared for by Mary, His Mother and Joseph, His Foster Father.
It was through their care and protection that Jesus grew up to be the man, who would openly preach the Good News and eventually save us from our sins.
In our Gospel today, we hear the important role the Parents as Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple of Jerusalem and presented Him to God, His Father.
Then they took Him home where Jesus became strong and filled with wisdom.
What an important and essential role the human family plays in the world!
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI described The Human Family as …
a Community of Peace.
In his message for a World Day of Peace ... he made 3 important points:
He said:
- “Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man to a woman,
- constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.”
- Anything that stands in the way of a couple’s openness to new life,
- constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.”
- Everything that obstructs the family’s right to be the primary educators of their children
- constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.”
You see, when a family is united in life & love, it contributes to the strength of the entire social order … and that is a powerful agency for peace!
But if there’s discord and separation in families; with brothers and sisters fighting, with aunts and uncles fighting, with fathers and mothers fighting or missing …
then the peace of the whole community is jeopardized.
If you disrupt the family, you disrupt peace!
The devil knows this and so he’s been working throughout the ages to take away peace … by sowing discord and division in families … by pitting …
- Husband against wife: with the sins of adultery, abuse, divorce and desertion
- Parents against children: with the sins of abortion, birth control, sterilization
- Children against parents: with the sins of rebellion and disobedience.
Which is why all throughout the Bible, God repeatedly calls us to have families
that are built on love and respect and tolerance for one another.
In our First Reading today the Prophet Sirach uses the words
“honor, revere and obey” to guide us in the way we treat our parents ...
re – emphasizing God’s 4th Commandment... Honor your Father and Mother.
In our Second Reading, St. Paul instructs Husbands, Wives and Children
to always put on love for one another ...
and let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts.
That’s God’s design for the Human Family that it be a community of life and love.
The family is to consist of a Father, a Mother and their Children …
with the parents living together in a lifelong covenant bond,
caring for one another in mutual respect and teaching their children,
who are to afford them reverence and respect.
Today, we celebrate the ultimate model that God gave us for this …
the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
We fortunately have many more models of holy families right here in our Parish!
You see, when Married Couples entrust themselves to God and His plan,
then the world is blessed with Holy Families
which bring to the world the great gift of peace!
If we sincerely want peace to reign in our world, in our home and in our heart,
we need to begin with the family.
Peace in our world starts with having peace in our homes.
because, the primary agency for creating and maintaining peace in our world is …
the human family.
Just as the Peace Sign is constructed as a circle around three lines.
The Human Family is also constructed as a circle around three persons …
the community of life and love that surrounds father, mother, and child.
As we continue to revel in the joy of Christmas …
realize that while the artistic Peace Sign was presented by a man just 62 yrs ago …
the real Peace Sign was presented by God the Father 2020 years ago …
in Bethlehem when He gave us Baby Jesus, under the care of Joseph & Mary..
Jesus, Mary and Joseph are always there to help us.
- Jesus ... our Divine Brother
- Joseph... our Baptismal Brother
- Mary ... our Blessed Mother
They are God’s perfect model of family ... and we’re members of that family!
So, let’s call upon our Holy Family to help us imitate the love and unity that they demonstrated … so that we too can be agents of peace in our world.
Then we won’t need to wear Jewelry or T-shirts to show the Peace Sign …
because our very lives and our families will be powerful signs of God’s Peace.
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