(Sir.3:2-6,12-14; Ps.128:1-5; Col.3:12-21; Mt.2:13-15,19-23) "Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body." A man is a man, a woman is a woman, and children are children – this does not change with time or culture. All are called to be one in the love and sacrifice of Christ; all are one holy family. Why do we find it necessary to make excuses for Holy Scripture and the "patriarchal family pattern" it reflects and "the subordinationist family ethic of the Biblical culture" (from the commentary of the missal from which I take today's readings)? How is it we have lost the beauty of Paul's words on the complementary nature of the conjugal relationship? How is it the family has become bereft of Christ? One would think Paul states, "Husbands, beat your wives," instead of "Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them," by the way his text is avoided like the plague. Why such ignorance of what is actually present in Scripture? And if the Scripture is perverted, why do we not "in all wisdom... teach and admonish one another," instead of casting the wisdom of the Lord from our presence, or rationalizing it away. Is it a sin for a wife to be submissive, to respect her husband; for children to be obedient toward their parents; for the husband and father to lay down his life for his family? Is power to be defined by the dictates of the world, or by the cross? Do we desire to control, or to love? "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!" Here is the key to our roles, in the exclamation of our psalmist. "Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him," Paul summarizes his teaching. Hear in his letter the call to "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another," even as the Lord has done with us. Be led by the Word of the Lord and His instruction and guidance. You, husbands, do you reflect Joseph's obedience to the Word of God brought by the angel? Do you care for your families as God calls? Are you mothers like Mary, moving according to the protective hand upon your hearth, your house? And children, do you honor your father and mother's authority over you as Jesus, who, though the Son of God, humbled Himself to be the child in this Holy Family? Let us all be as Christ – honoring, obeying, humbling ourselves… in a word, loving one another as He has loved us. Then we will be of the family of God. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Vision of Children" (2nd part) from The Innocent Heart, first album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, call us out of Egypt to your holy land. YHWH, obedient let us be to you, and serve one another. It is your will that we love one another, that we act with humility and patience, always forgiving and living in peace. Indeed, let us reflect the life of the Holy Family. Was not Joseph obedient to your every word, dear LORD? Did he not have in his soul only to protect your Son and His Mother? Did he think of himself at all? O let all fathers lay down their lives in such a complete manner! And was not Mary obedient to Joseph (who was obedient to you)? Did she not recognize, O LORD, that your will was being accomplished through his instruction, through the inspiration upon his soul? Did she stop to question his actions? Did she think herself better qualified, being the Mother of God? O let all wives be so respectful of their husbands! And was Jesus not obedient in all things to Joseph and Mary, He who was Son of God and God Himself? Did He invoke His superiority over them? O God, let all children so honor their mother and father! Let all walk in your ways, in your way of sacrifice, and so be blessed as the Holy Family.