Sacrificial Love

February is the month dedicated to the Holy Family; celebrate it that way.

   Yes, Lent began in February, on St Valentine’s Day no less.  However, that should not lessen our celebration of the Holy Family.  It should deepen our celebration and make it more meaningful.

   The Holy Family had their trials.  Many trials.  They were poor, had to flee to Egypt, made the journey back from Egypt, and Jesus was lost for three days!  And yet, in all of their trials, their faith never wavered.  In their poverty, they were always provided for.  Going to Egypt, they were safe.  Returning from Egypt, they were safe as well.  After losing Jesus, He was found.

   Despite all of their sufferings, they had just as amazing blessings.  Their highs sustained them through the lows.  Indeed, their hope for the highs of Heaven were enough to sustain them through the lows.  Sure, they received highs on earth, but most of them were after their lows.  Their hope sustained them.

   And this Holy Family was the epitome of sacrificial love.  This needs to be brought into each family.  The sacrifice of oneself for others is the living out “love your neighbor as yourself”.  Indeed, if we cannot do so for those we claim to love the most, we cannot do so for others.  To love another person, you will their good.  And sacrificial love is when you will their good by sacrificing something for/of yourself.

   If families lived out sacrificial love within their homes, this would change our whole society.  Right now, everyone is worried about getting what they think they deserve without contemplating what is good for others.  Surely, we may seem to have less by living sacrificial love, but we gain far more by living sacrificial love than we give.

   Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you lived in a perfect communion of sacrificial love. Help our families to have a spark of that sacrificial love and enkindle it within our families that we might be beacons of sacrificial love for all to see. Amen.

   “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.  …  your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” [Matthew 5:14,16]