Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. It is a mass and celebration forever special to me for it is the first mass and moment when I felt, received, direct engagement of the Holy Spirit and God through reading of a scripture.
I sat in pew beside my father, and as it spoke, we turned to each other amazed in its message and direct addressment to our thoughts and hearts in living spirit-moment.
From the Book of Sirach (one which Martin Luther in his protestations removed, whatever his personal reasons) Holy Spirit spoke to us:
“God sets a father over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother. Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and when he prays, is heard. Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obey his father brings comfort to his mother.
My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life; kindness to a father will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins—a house raised in justice to you.”[i]
Right then, not present with us in pew, source and paternal imbuer of our faith—my father’s father—lain at home in bed and hospice. For weeks, my father tended to him. For weeks, he brought comfort to his mother. As my grandfather’s mind and body failed, though the scripture spoke against—we grieved.
We grieved and coped both right then, isolated in the sadness of ourselves even when side-by-side in the company of each other. God’s words broke us from our grief. God’s words returned us to the consolation and care we held for each other, and for my father’s father still—even with him absent from us then.
There was not a better word or message God could have spoken in a moment we were both in need. Receiving the Word, he comforted us, brought us peace, relieved our grief in way of Word we knew without question to be Him.
Every time I arrive to this Sunday and Feast again, I remember the moment I felt God first speak to me by Word.
In the cycle of our Catholic Liturgy, today’s reading is different. Maybe it is meant for another today—to be spoken to and made aware of the loving, engaging, and living Spirit of God.
[i] Sirach 3: 2-6, 12-14