In 1969 on leave from the Army I saw the play” Fiddler on the Roof” with Alfie Bass in London . It starts with the song “Traditions”. The play itself is more about relationships of family in a changing world.
My own family is very dysfunctional. My dad was a divorced man and when he married my mother he converted to Catholicism and was a faithful Catholic until he died. My sister is divorced as is her daughter, my godchild.Drugs and alcohol have affected others in my extended family.
My mother came from a large Polish family with many brothers and sisters. More than half are good faithful practicing Catholics. The goal in life is to get to heaven, and we have a duty to encourage our loved-ones to do the same. Part of my morning prayers are to pray for family. I pray first for both physical and emotional generational healing. I also pray for their salvation.
How did Martha, Mary and Lazarus succeed in becoming Saints?
First of all their family had a relationship with Jesus. Jesus spent time with them to relax and bask in the loving relationship of good friends. Jesus must have enjoyed the meals and conversations. They laughed and joked. I can imagine them playing pranks, but all out of love.
Newsflash! Jesus is waiting to have that relation with you and me. You already have one or you wouldn’t be reading this. Jesus told her, ” I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me even if he dies, will live, and anyone who livesand believes in me will never die. This is only part of the road to salvation. We listen to what Jesus says but we also watch what He does. He loved the relationship He had with others.
1John 3:11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another. All four were loving one another in this passage from scripture. They had food, conversation, teaching from Jesus. They were practicing love. They were supporting one another.
Let’s go back to my Mom and Dad. My Dad’s best friend was my Uncle. My Aunt (Ciocia) was best friends with my Mom. They were only two years apart. Emotionally and spiritually my parents and uncle and aunt supported each other in trials and successes. Sure they had a relationship with Jesus but that relationship was not in a vacuum.
1John 4:11-16 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
The relationship we have with Jesus doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
That is the message of today’s Gospel. Loving doesn’t mean you have to like them but help anyone that Jesus puts in front of you to have a relationship with Him and believe that He died for us. This goes for perfect strangers and close friends.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please pray for peace for the people of Ukraine. Also pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers.
