The Holy Family and a Pair of Popes

Happy seventh day of Christmas! Today the Church would normally celebrate the memorial of Saint Sylvester I, pope and confessor. Because it’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, however, it is instead the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father.

And more than that, this being an icon and not just a pattern or ideal, we are given an icon of a holy family life, centered on God.

This family was beset by the problems of the world – from being refugees in Egypt from the wrath of Herod right up until the moment Mary’s heart broke at the sight of her son’s brutal torture and execution. And yet, they made for themselves a home, wherever they were. A home of love and domestic joy.

Of course, today’s psalm reminds us that even in the midst of the family home, we are only pilgrims upon this earth, journeying towards our heavenly home.

Happy they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.

– from Psalm 84, Responsorial Psalm for today’s Feast
(second option)

Through all their joys and travails, the Holy Family discerned and followed the will of God, and they turned to each other. They become not just the model, but the very definition of a holy family.

Today is also the first anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI of happy memory. He was an enormous influence to me in my life of faith. When the Cardinals elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.  I knew nothing of this man, but I was intrigued to discover a yawning rift amongst the Catholics I knew. Some of them adored him, and some of them positively vilified him.

This dichotomy exist to this day, and I confess it has always puzzled me. At the time, I was intrigued, and since the man had just been elected pope, I resolved to read one of his books. Since I was a new Catholic, I thought I’d start with his Introduction to Christianity.

This book was for me an absolute revelation. In it, he goes through the Apostles’ Creed and provides commentary and explanation of every line. He spends over a hundred pages on the very first word: Credo – I believe.

He brings out the meaning of the text, which is of course much deeper than I had ever realized. It was said of Saint Anthony of Padua that his preaching provided a jeweled cover to the book of the Gospel. This was exactly my impression of Introduction to Christianity: Benedict provided the jeweled cover to the Creed.

I’ve often said that had I not already converted when I read Introduction to Christianity, that book alone might have done it.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Benedict shaped and deepened my spiritual life. I have since read a number of his books, but Introduction to Christianity remains one of my two favorites.

The other, of course, must be The Spirit of the Liturgy.

When our pastor at Holy Rosary, Rev. Jacob Maurer, started the parish liturgical commission, one of the things he did was purchase a copy of this book for each member. To this day, I think that that was one of the best decisions in the pastoral governance of a parish that I have ever seen.

My copy has underlines on every page, and often notes as well. This book revolutionized and crystallized my idea of what the sacred liturgy was, and what it was for. I’d like to think that my entire liturgical life is a commentary on this book.

If you have not read any of his books, what are you waiting for? The most accessible place to start is probably Jesus of Nazareth. Start there – but don’t stop there.

Obviously, we don’t know how history will judge the life and works of Pope Benedict XVI. As for me, I think that in a century or so, he will be enrolled amongst the Doctors of the Church. And I’m not alone in thinking that.

I am reminded on this day of a homily delivered by a priest in Seattle back in 2012, when I was attending daily Mass near to where I worked at the time. The priest in question took the rather unusual step of simply preaching the Pope’s homily of that day. Although I did not know it at the time, that priest was Rev. David Mulholland, who is now my pastor at Saint Patrick.

When Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation – in Latin – I was profoundly saddened. At the time I said “I am stunned and grieving”. He sounded so tired as he spoke, and I think in retrospect we can see that he was already suffering from the long decline into frailty that we’ve witnessed over the past decade. I walked our first Camino partially “for the intentions of two Popes“.

His profound humility is present in all of his writing. Even his last words as Pope ring with it.

Thank you from the heart, dear friends! I am glad to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of Creation. From eight this evening, I will no longer be Pontiff.

I am simply a pilgrim who begins the final stage of his pilgrimage on this earth, but I still wish to, with my heart, with my love, with my prayer, with my reflection, work for the good of the Church and for the common good of mankind.

Buona notte!

(Pope Benedict XVI, from the balcony at Castel Gandolfo)

I pray that this humble servant of God and of His Church has ended his pilgrimage in our heavenly homeland.

Please, in your mercy, pray for the repose of the soul of this deeply holy man. And if you are so inclined, pray for him to be raised to the altars: santo subito!

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.