Stay Tuned for Next Week!
Family Drama and a Way to Resolve It… (A morning meditation, Matthew 12:46-50)
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There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “Not one family can put a sign outside their home with the words: No Problems Here.”
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Even the Holy Family had their share of drama.
In the Gospel, for example, Jesus is preaching inside someone’s home, when all of a sudden Mary and some other family members appear wanting to speak with him.
They’re not there to ask Jesus if he’s coming home for dinner; they’re looking to scold him!
As it’s written a few verses before, they think Jesus is, “out of his mind!”
I’m sure some of his family’s concern was driven by the desire to protect him from being harmed. But the truth is, even those closest to Jesus struggled to accept him as the Son of God.
That must have been quite painful for Jesus.
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Not one family – not even the Holy Family – can say, “No problems here.”
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What issues or concerns do I face in my own family?
And how might I work to resolve them?
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Though only the beginning, perhaps the first step is listening.
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“Keep coming back! It works if you work it!” … A word on perseverance.
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Alcoholics Anonymous has a saying, “Keep coming back. It works if you work it!”
Meaning, the path to sobriety is paved in perseverance.
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The same is true with Christianity. The path to heaven is paved in perseverance.
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Just consider the life of Saint Apollinaris, whose feast day we celebrate today.
According to tradition, he was sent by Saint Peter himself to become the first bishop of Ravenna, a town in northern Italy.
Apollinaris was so “successful” in preaching the Gospel that the non-believers in town beat him up, threw him out, and warned him never to return again.
But he did.
Apollinaris was beaten a second time, warned again never to return.
But he did.
This time he was thrown – beaten and bloodied – onto a ship to Greece.
But Apollinaris found his way back a fourth and final time, where he was martyred for our faith.
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“Keep coming back. It works if you work it!”
Apollinaris persevered in preaching the Gospel, in spite of the many challenges he faced. To this day, some 2,000 years later, his beloved Ravenna remains a staunchly Catholic town.
Thank God Apollinaris never gave up.
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Where is the Lord asking me to persevere?
Maybe it’s as simple as not giving into the negativity and frustration surrounding the pandemic.
Maybe it means tightening my discipline; refusing to give into temptation; staying sober; or pushing through a particular trial.
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“Keep coming back. It works if you work it!”
Like staying sober, the path to heaven is paved in perseverance.
We must never give up.
Saint Apollinaris, pray for us.
