An article once said that if proof is needed of how broken the world is today, just look at the family. What is referred to as a “modern” family means either no mother or no father or a lack of both. As priests assigned in a seminary, we notice that the human development of a young adult from the traditional family is very different than that of a modern family. The latter has so many developmental needs.

In the Gospel, Jesus says that anyone who does the will of the Lord is family to Him. Hence, regardless of whatever the story of our family is, we all need healing and we need God. Three things we can do to put God in our family for healing: 

• First, there are families who are not talking to each other. Yes, forgiveness is most difficult in the family but it is most necessary.
  • It is very sad to fight over money
  • It is very sad to fight among siblings because one was thought to be the favorite
  • It is very sad to have a black sheep in the family and who used up most of the family finances
  • It is very sad to fight because of envy
  • It is very sad to continue being angry at one another because of fights when we were children were never resolved
    
    Yet, forgiveness is very important.
    
• Second, there are families wherein someone seems to have gone astray. It is often said, “A family that prays together stays together.”
  
• Third, there are families that experience the same type of sickness, vice, misfortune, or sin in every generation. To this, praying the “Breaking of Generational Curses” and “Healing the Family Tree” is very important for healing.

In this Mass, we pray that God be the center of our family life. We also remember the saying:  “When all the dust is settled, and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family, and friends.”