How often I write or speak of our ‘parish family’. This expression gives me pause to consider others’ claims to the reality for ‘family’. For example;

• Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children.
• Having a two year old is like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.
• People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one.
• Children ware growing up when they stop asking where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.
• The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.
• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
• There’s no such thing as fun for the whole family.

Perhaps, because of the above considerations, on February 2, Pope Francis wrote;

“Dear families . . . in our day the Church is called to proclaim the Gospel by confronting the new and urgent pastoral needs facing the family . . . In (this) context, there will also be the World Meeting of Families due to take place in Philadelphia in September 2015. May we all, then, pray together so that through these events the Church will undertake a true journey of discernment and adopt the necessary pastoral means to help families face their present challenges with the light and strength that comes from the Gospel . . . Dear families, your prayers (for families) will be a precious treasure which enriches the Church. I thank you, and I ask you to pray also for me, so that I may serve the People of God in truth and in love. May the protection of the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph always accompany all of you and help you to walk untied in love and in caring for one another.”

On this Feast of the Holy Family, I offer you the prayer our Holy Father has given us:

Father Pete