Prayer-Soldier Newbie
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:34 pm Post subject: The Blessings of Family |
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The Blessings of Family
Scripture:
For God has made the father honorable to the children: and seeking the judgment of the mothers, has confirmed it upon the children. He that loves God, shall obtain pardon for his sin by prayer, and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer of days. And he that honors his mother is as one that lays up a treasure. He that honors his father shall have joy in his own children, and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard. He that honors his father shall enjoy a long life: and he that obeys the father, shall be a comfort to his mother.
Son, support the old age of your father, and grieve him not in his life; and if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when you are in your strength: for the relieving of the father shall not be forgotten. (Ben Sira 3:3-7, 14-16, Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14)
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the depths of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly: in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as it behooves in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter towards them. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation, lest they be discouraged. (Colossians 3:12-21)
And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell you. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child. Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archclaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.
(Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23)
Reflection:
And so it was from the beginning, God made them man and women so that they would join as one and from the fruit of their love, the generations would spawn. It is the duty of the father and mother to work as partners to raise their offspring and provide a healthy environment in which the children may mature. It is the responsibility of parents to prepare their children and impart wisdom so that as the child comes of age, each child is prepared to raise the generations to come. He designed them so that man would not be alone and that woman would complete the existence of man. He designed them such that love would be shared between them and the lives which spawned from them.
Should anyone be surprised, then, that evil lays in wait to corrupt love between man and woman and to build enmity between children and their parents? We need only look at what invades our pursuits to see how the evil one desires that members of families become driven by selfish endeavors rather than by love and sacrifice for one another. In this world, so many are blind to how selfishness poisons their minds or how it drives divisions between husband and wife, parents and children and sibling against sibling. If the evil one can drive love from the family, then, there is no foundation from which communities and nations can sustain themselves ? selfishness will reign supreme and conflict will rule the land. The people will stand divided and violence will be found in homes and in the streets.
No matter what hate is built by evil, we have the choice to stop it with that which it cannot stand, the power of love. Though as one person, we may feel powerless against all we face within the world, we still have the choice to extend our hands in love to those around us. We can start within our family, to build the bond which He asks of us, for husband to love his wife and wife to love her husband; for parents to love their children, for children to love their parents and for children to love one another. From what is nurtured within the family, then, let it also be shared within neighborhoods, church communities, cities and even across nations.
Not everyone is blessed all the days of their life to know the love of family. Not all families remain together as decisions are made and tragedies faced; nor will every man find a wife or woman find a husband, for some are called to serve at a different level; to tend to His sheep, to care for communities of families and to spread His Word through charity and love. He calls each of us to different vocations, but whatever calling to which we respond, blessings will follow when we respond with love and we allow ourselves to be guided by His love.
If we listen to His Word through the filter of selfishness, we only serve the ways of evil. The evil one will drive us to use His Word as a means to manipulate others, as a club to oppress. If we hear that we should admonish, but do not hear we must forgive, then, we are deaf to what He has tried to teach us. If we hear we should work, but do not hear that we should should share of our gains in charity, then, we turn ourselves over to the evil of selfishness. If we hear we should receive charity, but do not hear that we should work so that we may offer charity, then, we do not hear the balance of His Word.
If we hear only that our parents should love us, but not that we should obey, we bring discord into our house. If we hear only that our children should obey, but do not hear of our responsibility to love them and guide them with love so that they may reflect the talents the Lord has built within them, we do not provide a healthy environment for our children to mature. The sins of the parents, therefore, will ripple through and plague the generations to come.
If husbands only hear that their wives should be subject to them, but do not hear their responsibility to love, cherish and provide for their wife; and if wives only hear that they should receive love and care from their husbands, but do not hear the responsibility of wives to love and provide for their husband and work in partnership with them for care of the household, then, they will retrench to the ways of selfishness which will drive divisions among them, divisions which only serve the objectives of the evil one.
Should we not be surprised, then, that so many snares are laid to separate husband from wife and poison the relationships between parent and child and that between siblings? Each temptation to follow selfish paths tears at the fabric of the family. As families divide, so too will the foundations be laid for darkness to spread the poison of hate across the land. The faithful must study all of His Word and study its depths so that they do not fall into evil pits, but share His truth with one another so that all may fulfill His commandments to love; and if they do not understand the breadth of His Word, they should pray for discernment so that false prophets may not deceive them with evil ideologies or slippery words designed to drive enmity and hate.
It is by no accident that He sent His only begotten Son to the world through the labor of a mother. It is by no accident that He gave to the woman a husband so that within community, His humanly body may mature until His planned hour came. The prophets told from whence He would come and what He would be called. The Holy Family was central to protecting Him in human form until He was brought forth by the Father to teach the children of His creation of that which upon all the law and prophecy depended, the commandments to love.
He did not need to come to the world to command great armies, for legions of angels stand ready to obey His every Word. He did not need to come to the world, born to a family of material wealth, for all the wealth of the world comes first from the Creator. He did not come to the world to bring death, for His is the kingdom of life and His desire is for all the children of His creation to join Him in that kingdom. He came to the world, then, not to destroy as evil does, but to build up His people through the power of forgiveness and the everlasting joy of love. In prayer, we should offer thanks and praise for the blessings He designed for us to receive and that He guide us in how we may share of those blessings through our family and the communities and nations our families build.
May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier
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