Holy Chaos

 

Holy Chaos.  I was  cantoring for the Feast of the Holy Family Mass last Sunday when our associate pastor used this term in his homily.  Wow, what an apt description to describe the last year.  While trying to devote every problem and incident that happened to our family last year to daily prayer,  I admit sometimes it felt like I was praying against a major tsunami of panic and pain.

Holy was the last word I would have described our year. Yet as Fr. Hiett talked about the Holy Family and Mary's shocking announcement of being pregnant out of wedlock, Joseph discerning whether to accept her as a wife, then when he does, they have to jump on a donkey and head out of town to be counted in a census. (What was up with this last minute decision of Caesar Augustus? He couldn't have planned that better?)

But wait, now there is no where to stay for a few days while waiting to be counted and your wife is going into labor and delivers a son. But the chaos is not over. Not long after his birth, Joseph is told in a dream that another Roman is going to create more chaos in their lives by putting out a death threat on their son's life and they must move to Egypt!

You know, it's all a nice story that we have heard over and over again through the years. But I have to admit, have I really stopped and looked at what the Holy Family had to go through?  

We forget as we try to deal with all the problems our families have in life just what Mary and Joseph had to do to protect Jesus coming into the world.  They knew he was special and of course he was their son so they would be especially protective, but knowing He was also the Savior of the World had to create a little anxiety. If not for Mary who was born without sin and so didn't have the temptations to worry as much as some of us, but especially for Joseph, who as the man and father of the family was in charge of protecting his wife and child.

Yet the term  Fr. Hiett used, Holy Chaos, was aptly appropriate.  We can have good intentions about how we approach problems that arise in our families.  We pray, we discern and remain calm. But sometimes despite our best efforts, chaos still reigns.  It is a mortal life here on earth where Satan loves to get in and stir things up.  So while chaos can be swirling around us, we hang on like the Holy Family to God, prayers and each other to get us through the storm.

Holy Chaos.   Pause, pray and be joyful!