Reflecting on the Relic of Blessed Michael J. McGivney (1/11/2025)

I am still unpacking the day spent with the Relic of Blessed McGivney. So many graces and blessings flowed forth. I am overwhelmed with God's love and Blessed McGivney's intercession. And, yes, I noticed the sunlight shining on the Relic during Holy Hour and Veneration. It was heavenly!

As I prayed and touched my KC Rosary (the one that got 17 years ago when I went through the First Degree Exemplification at Sacred Heart), I prayed for Blessed McGivney's intercession so that my heart can be conformed to Christ's Sacred Heart and that I transform into the husband, Catholic man, and brother Knight that Jesus needs me to be for his Church for the glory of God and the good of the Order.

It was so inspiring to see so many of the faithful venerate the Relic, touching their rosaries, Fourth Degree swords, and other sacramentals to the Relic. So many prayed before the Relic and left their prayer intentions in the box. Many wept as they prayed. It was so moving. The Church is alive and the faithful are devoted to our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy men and women, saints of God!

Many thanks for making our first Relic of Blessed Michael J. McGivney on Jan. 11, 2025 just a wonderful and blessed event. I have many to thank so please hold your applauses until the end. :)

Fr. Charlie for his blessings, prayers, and guidance.

GK Patrick & Deputy GK Greg for their leadership in helping me plan this event and wherever needed.

Art & George S. for coordinating the Fourth Degree SK, including District Master Blake, for the Fallout. Here is a video of the Fallout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDhVHF-r2jA&t=13s.

Andy R., John I., Patrick, David "Webby", Marcos, Art for leading us in the Holy Rosary during Holy Hour, and Anthony R. for getting the materials together.

Arnold, who did an excellent job as the thurifer for Holy Hour and an adult altar server at Mass.

GK Patrick for holding down the fort during Veneration while many of us participated in the C.U.F., including reading excerpts of materials about Blessed McGivney.

Edward J. for running the livestream with the help of George K.

George S., Andy R., Art, Patrick, John I., John P., Greg M., and Joseph C. for participating in the fallout.

Donovan G. for the tables with KC materials. 

Mike M. for being the liaison between our Council and State Deputy Ron Alonzo and Diocesan Deputy Victor Medina, and being there for our new Knights, including our Music Coordinator Ben Batalla.

Sr. Kelly and my wife, Theresa, for helping me with set-up for Holy Hour, Veneration, and Mass, as well as Deacon David for his part in the planning.

District Deputy Mike and his C.U.F. (Charity, Unity, and Fraternity) team for a job well done bringing in 12 new brother Knights into the Order.

Diocesan Deputy Victor ad his wife, Lady Melisa, for bringing the Relic to Saint Albert the Great, escorted by four members of the Knights on Bikes. Lady Melisa took great pictures of the event.

Of course, State Deputy Ron for his tireless effort to bring the Relic of Blessed McGivney to the  various Dioceses in Texas. (We missed First Lady Margo.)

If I am missing anyone, then please forgive me. It was truly a team effort to make this Relic event so reverent and successful.

Blessed Michael J. McGivney, pray for us and for our families.

Photo of the prayer intention box next to the Relic of Blessed Michael J. McGivney.

Photo of State Deputy Ron, holding the Relic, with Fourth Degree Sir Knights next to the clergy (Msgr. Brooks, Dcn. Phúc, and Dcn. Edward) after Mass.

Also, photo of the twelve (12) new brother Knights after the C.U.F.

Photo of State Deputy Ron presenting a copy of Blessed Michael J. McGivney "Apostle of the Young" to Diocesan Deputy Victor and Assistant to the State Chaplain, Deacon Phúc.

Here are some feedback from the Relic event:

. . .

"After speaking with Brother Knights, we agree, that those that participated, were touched very deeply within our heart and soul. The Holy Hour Prayer was powerful, the words within that prayer were very gripping. and the men that lead the prayer were exceptional. Joseph and I were discussing how the Sunlight was shining on the Altar and the Blessed Sacrament during the Holy Hour. The clear skies were open for the Light of God to shine into our Parish for the Relic of the Blessed McGivney Event."

. . .

"While streaming the Rosary, I noticed the sun starting to engulf the relic. I tried the two other cameras to limit the “brightness” to no avail. Then it dawned on me, don’t do anything. My thought was that this was a great sign, as if “something great will come of this event!” The power of GOD shining down! Also, I mentioned that one of my sisters was one of the number who streamed the Rosary. Talking with her yesterday, she and her husband were out on their  farm, building fence at the time and praying with  us. Those who say, “they couldn’t tune in” or “don’t have time!” One only needs to make “time” for GOD!"

. . .

Homily for Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 1/13/2025)

Good morning. Last Monday, I shared that Pope St. Pius X observed that “the distinguishing mark of Antichrist [is man] raising himself above all that is called God.” This leads to “apostasy from God” and “the total repudiation (or rejection) of the Christian faith.” I also shared that our response to the “spirit of the antichrist” is by turning away from sin and returning to God. The Catechism states that the “movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, and the first purpose of sinning no more in the future” (CCC 1490).

Pope Francis said that repentance ”arises entirely from an awareness of our wretchedness in the face of God’s infinite love, his boundless mercy. . . The more we feel his tenderness, the more we desire to be in full communion with him and the more the ugliness of evil in our life becomes apparent to us. . .” (3/8/2024). Once again, the Catechism states that the “process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father. . . Only the heart of Christ Who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way” (1439).

For this reason, the Holy Father reminds us to “remember that God never tires of forgiving us, and on our part, let us never tire of asking for forgiveness.” (Pope Francis, 3/8/2024). And so, like the prodigal son, we turn away from a life of sin and return to God by keeping God’s commandments. We attend Mass and receive the Eucharist regularly. We go to Confession. This is what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel when he says to us, “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Simon and his brother Andrew, along with James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, did this when Jesus called them, saying,  “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They left behind their old ways of life and followed Christ.

Like them, our conversion and repentance happen when we leave behind our old ways of life and come and follow him to a new life in Christ. However, like them, it is not a one-time conversion and repentance for us but rather a daily, ongoing turning away from sin and temptations and returning to God. We know this from the Gospel accounts of the times that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing, when “their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:52), and how they abandoned our Lord during his Passion. Yet, except for Judas Iscariot, they remained Jesus’ apostles and, because they repented and believed in the Gospel, Christ tasked them to continue his mission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. And so it is for us, this ongoing conversion and repentance that started with our own Baptism and continues each and every day of our lives when we choose to say “Yes” to Jesus and come and follow him.

Homily for Monday after Epiphany (Year C - 1/6/2025)

Good morning. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill (5:17). Not only did Jesus fulfill the law as he promised, he also gave us the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment” (22:37-38). Jesus then added, “The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (22:39).

These are the same commandments that Saint John the Evangelist spoke of in today’s first reading: “And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them. . .” Love of another is secondary to the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. . .” and to “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.”

This is how we know that the Spirit of God is in another but, most importantly, that the Spirit of God is in us: “. . .every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist.” How are we to understand the “antichrist”? Perhaps this insight from St. Hippolytus can help us better understand: “the deceiver seeks to like himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is the lion, so the Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb (John 1:29); so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, although within he is a wolf”. . . “resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic faith.”

Pope St. Pius X observed that “the distinguishing mark of Antichrist [is man] raising himself above all that is called God,” leading to a terrible sickness in society that is “apostasy from God.” Moreover, in 1976, in Philadelphia for the Eucharistic Congress, then-Cardinal Wojtyla, St. John Paul II warned: “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. . . We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist.”

How are we to respond to the “spirit of the antichrist”? The answer, my sisters and brothers in Christ, is by turning away from sin and temptation and keeping the commandments of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by coming to Mass and receiving our Lord in the Eucharist, and by frequent reception of the Sacraments. Jesus is the “great light” that “has arisen” to dispel the darkness. Jesus comes to us proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17).

Homily for Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious (Year C - 1/4/2025)

Good morning. A few days ago, we ushered in the new year. We reflected on everything that we experienced in 2024 (the good and the bad) and look forward with hope to 2025. Many of us might even have new year’s resolutions that we are working to accomplish as we continue to navigate our way in the new year. Whatever it may be, in our own way, we are searching for something in 2025. In a way, we are like John the Baptist and his two disciples who were waiting for the Messiah. So, when Jesus walked by as they were standing there and watching him, they knew that they had found the Messiah, because John the Baptist made this proclamation about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”

Jesus comes to us, not only in today’s Gospel but in our hearts right here and right now, at the start of the new year, and asks us, “What are you looking for?” No matter what our answers may be - for me, it continues to be exercise more until I actually exercise more - Jesus’ answer to us will always be the same: “Come, and you will see.” In the mystery of the Incarnation, Christ humbled himself and took on our humanity that we can share in his divinity. In other words, “Come, and you will see” is an invitation to us to take part in Jesus’ divine life. When we participate in the divine life of our Lord and our God, we will see what we have been searching for, what we have been longing for the most in our lives: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself. Only Jesus can fulfill our hearts’ deepest longings with the love that we desire most because He is what we hope for in our lives. However, we will only know this by knowing Him. We know Jesus through faith that is rooted in a robust spiritual life built on prayer, the “source and summit” of which is the Eucharist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is what today’s saint realized about her newfound Catholic faith. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, whose memorial we celebrate today, is the patron saint of Catholic schools, educators/teachers, loss of parents, and widows. Reared a staunch Episcopalian, Elizabeth learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. At 19, she married a wealthy businessman and they had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Elizabeth became a Catholic in March 1805. At 30, she was widowed and penniless, so to support her five small children, she opened the first American parish school, in Baltimore, and established the first American Catholic orphanage. Mother Seton, as she was known, also founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity.

All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children (from Franciscan Media) because the divine life of Jesus flowed in her veins and permeated every part of her being, mind, spirit, body, and soul. Whatever your new year’s resolutions might be this year, be sure to invite Jesus into your life. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will make all the difference in your life if you accept his invitation to “Come, and you will see.” 

Homily for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God The Octave Day of Christmas (Year C - 1/1/2025)

Good evening. A blessed Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and a Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone! If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be more prayerful this year, then I encourage you to pray every day the prayer of blessing that we just heard proclaimed in the first reading. The prayer is the one that the Lord gave Moses to give to Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelites. Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, pray this prayer over each other and your children every morning before you all leave the house for school or work. “May the LORD bless you and keep you! May the LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! May the LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Mary is truly the Mother of God, since she gave birth to the Second Person of the Trinity who became man for our sake (EWTN). At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus” (Luke 1:30-31). Mary is truly the Mother of God because the angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. . . he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. . . [and when] she bore a son. . . he named him Jesus” (Mt. 1:20-25).

We also hear in Scripture that “[all] this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Mt. 1:20-23). Moreover, in his catechesis on the Blessed Virgin Mary’s title “Mother of God”, Pope Saint John Paul II said: “Mary's divine motherhood refers only to the human begetting of the Son of God [who] assumed our human nature 2,000 years ago and was conceived by and born of Mary [which makes her] the ‘Mother of the Incarnate Word, who is God’” (General Audience, 11/27/1996). It is the motherhood of Mary that made all of it possible, from the Incarnation to the birth of the Church, which is why the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. 

Not only is Mary truly the Mother of God but she is also her Son’s most faithful disciple. As the ark of the New Covenant, the role of Mary is to “bear Christ to the world” (Graym 75) in the way that she bore the infant Jesus to the shepherds that first Christmas night in Bethlehem. Just as Mary is the living tabernacle that carried Jesus in her virginal womb, we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). In a few minutes from now, we become like Mary when we receive the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist. As Christians, we are called to imitate Mary and bear the presence of Christ to the world so that others may go through their lives “glorifying and praising God.” It is the mission that Jesus entrusts to us at our Baptism when he commissioned us to “[go], therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.” We share this mission with Mother Mary who herself has been carrying it out faithfully since the time she gave God her “yes”, bringing countless souls to her Son to save.

Most of all, though, Mary is truly the Mother of God because she loves the Son of God and all of us, adopted sons and daughters of the Father, with a mother’s tender heart. Mary’s heart is the Immaculate Heart that pondered and reflected on the great mystery of her Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At the Annunciation of his birth, Mary’s heart pondered the message of the angel Gabriel. When Joseph and Mary went to the temple for the presentation of infant Jesus, Simeon told Mary that a “sword will pierce” her heart (Luke 2:36). After she and Joseph found the child Jesus in the temple, she kept all those things in her heart. Then, in today’s Gospel, after the birth of baby Jesus, and visits from the shepherds, we hear that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux once said that the “loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”

For me, growing up and even now as an adult, my mom often tells me in Vietnamese: “mẹ giữ những điều này trong lòng của mẹ,” which translates to mean “I keep these things in my heart.” I know this to mean that my mom’s heart aches because she has many worries and concerns out of love for her husband, children, and grandchildren. My mom’s heart is most filled with joy when she sees her family healthy, happy, and fed. Like all loving and caring mothers, she carries her crosses daily with courage and strength that God reserves only for mothers, most especially true with Mary, the Mother of God, whose heart felt joy, love, sadness, and sorrow for the Son of God. We can feel what Mary feels for Jesus when we pray the mysteries of the holy rosary and ponder and reflect on the life of Christ through the eyes of his beloved Mother.

On this Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, as we say good-bye to 2024 and entrust 2025, with all its hopes and promises, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may these words from Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego fill our hearts with hope, peace, joy, and love for the new year. Our Lady said to Juan Diego then and to us now: “Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety, or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?”

Let us pray a Hail Mary, asking the Mother of God to intercede for our families in the new year: Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Homily for the Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas (Year C - 12/30/2024)

Good morning. In the Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, says this to his uncle about Christmastime: “I have always thought of Christmastime. . . as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of. . . when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys” (p. 9).

What Fred describes here is, I believe, the Spirit of Christmas that dwells in our hearts when we desire the “love of the Father” in us. This love of the Father manifests in our kindness, forgiveness, and charity toward one another. We keep the Spirit of Christmas throughout the year when we open our “shut-up hearts” to the things of God and do not “love the world or the things of the world” above our love for God Not love the world or things of the world? How are we to understand this? There is evil in the world, yes; just listen to how Saint John describes it: “all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.” However, there is also good in the world, should we not love the world that we live in?

Perhaps this biblical understanding of the “world” can give us some clarity: “The world [is] all that is hostile toward God and alienated from him. Love of the world and love of God are thus mutually exclusive” (USCCB.org), because “the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.” In today’s Gospel, the prophetess, Anna, shows us how we can keep our hearts open to the things of God and overcome the temptations from the things of the world that leads us away from God.

We hear that the prophetess, Anna, worshipped God night and day with fasting and prayer and gave thanks to God. When we have a robust spiritual life, prayer helps us to stay focused on God. Moreover, fasting trains our mind and body to be prudent in the things of God and to deny ourselves those things that do not help us grow in our relationship with Him. Therefore, may we always strive to grow and become strong in our faith through prayers and fasting, as that we may be filled with the wisdom of God, and desire to have the favor of God upon us, rather than the things of the world. You all, my sisters and brothers in Christ, are on the right path by coming to Mass every morning to worship God, to receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and to let the Spirit of God dwell within us.

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Year C - 12/29/2024), preached at the 12:00 Mass

Below is my Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Year C - 12/29/2024), preached at the 12:00 Mass 🙏🕊❤️:

Good afternoon. A few days ago, we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For us to truly grasp the magnitude of what happened on that silent, holy night over 2,000 years ago is for us to ponder the mystery of the Incarnation - “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Pope Francis said: “On that holy night, God becoming flesh, wanting to become a gift for man, gave himself for us; God has made his only-begotten Son a gift for us, taking our humanity to give us his divinity. . . God took the human condition to heal us from all that separates us from him, so that we can call him, in his only-begotten Son, by the name 'Abba, Father,' and be truly children of God" (1/10/2013).

“God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. . .” could have come to us in any way or form He wanted. Yet, He chose to come to us as a little child, born into a family - “[for] us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man” (Nicene Creed). Mary was his mother and Joseph his father. Saints Joachim and Anne were his grandparents and John the Baptist his cousin. In the same way that Jesus sanctified the waters of Baptism, he sanctified the human family so that even with all its imperfections, struggles, sorrows, and sadness, the family remains the source of God’s hope, peace, joy, and love in the world when Jesus is at the center of the family life. In the Holy Family, we have a model of how we can face and overcome the difficulties and challenges of family life when each member of the family strives for holiness and helps one another get to heaven.

In today’s Gospel, we hear that Joseph and Mary lost twelve-year-old Jesus for five days. If you are like me, then you might wonder why Mary and Joseph did not make sure that Jesus was in the caravan before they left Jerusalem, much less wait a whole day to check on him only to find out that Jesus was not in the caravan at all. Perhaps you might even ponder why the “boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,” without letting his parents know, rather than return home with them. We learn from this that our family challenges us in many ways. For instance, I have this amazing goddaughter who I love dearly. When she was young, we would give her Texas Longhorns clothes and she would look so adorable in burnt orange. However, something changed this past year because every time I see her now she shows me the upside-down “Hook’em Horns” hand sign. She is breaking my heart but I still love her dearly. And so to all parents who have children that have become estranged from your family or strayed from the faith, do not lose hope but pray for your children and entrust them to our Father in heaven. In time, your children will find their way home and be obedient to God once again.

This is the messiness of the human family and condition that the Father wanted his Only Begotten Son to experience and redeem so that by his grace, all families can experience hope, peace, joy, and love. When Mary and Joseph realized that their Son was not with them, they “returned to Jerusalem to look for him. . . with great anxiety.” They even asked God “why have you done this to us?” However, as hard as it probably was for them, especially for Mary who “kept all these things in her heart,” they did not despair nor did they lose hope. They leaned on each other as husband and wife but, above all, they trusted in God. Open your hearts to Jesus and allow him to be your reason to be hopeful. Let the “peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which [we are] called into one body.” 

My sisters and brothers in Christ, if this Christmas season has been or is turning out to be difficult and challenging for you and your family, because you have lost a loved one or someone dear to you is seriously ill or dying or something has happened in your family that has caused you to scream at God, asking: “why have you done this to us?”, then please come see Msgr. Brooks or me after Mass. We would love to pray for you and your family. However, do not despair but have hope. More importantly, surrender and trust in God. Take these words of Saint Paul to heart and believe that you are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.” Know that Jesus “came so that [you] might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). So, if you and your family are hanging on by a thread of hope, then let it be the thread on the cloak of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:20). 

My parents celebrate their 50th anniversary today, and I am blessed to have been around for forty-five (45) of those years. Like Mary and Joseph, who fled to Egypt to keep Jesus safe, my parents braved the high seas to come to America, in 1983, so that their children could have a better life. They struggled to raise their children in a new land where the language was completely foreign to them. They argued and fought. Through it all, however, I believe that their marriage has endured the trials of life and they remain together because my parents learned to love and forgive each other over and over again for 50 years. In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, our family can learn to “put on. . . heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. . . and over all these put on love.” You see, when they realized that Jesus was not in the caravan, Mary and Joseph did not blame each other because their love did not “brood over injury” nor did it “rejoice over wrongdoing”. Rather, their love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:5-7). In our own families, we are called to “put on love” for each other and “[bear] with one another and [forgive] one another. . . as the Lord [forgives]” us.

My sisters and brothers in Christ, our families are not perfect like the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph but that is okay. By the grace of God, with Jesus at the center of our family life, the Holy Spirit inspires us to work together so that we may have hope and attain peace, joy, and love. We also need to embrace two things. First, we need to realize how truly blessed we are to be part of the family that God has given us. And, second, we need to realize that we are a blessing to our family. This frees us to live our lives in a way that we are a blessing to our family. I want to end with this bit of nugget from Ron Rolheiser, OMI, that I believe can help our families grow in holiness and love. He said: “As the various versions of The Prayer of St. Francis put it, we can never attain joy, consolation, peace, forgiveness, love, and understanding by actively pursuing them. We attain them by giving them out.” And so we pray: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace [in my family]. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. Divine Master, [in my relationship with members of my family,] grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.