I was listening to Radio Veritas 846 Manila on my way home last night because I had too much commentary on that fateful hostage drama.
I am not a big fan of the radio station but I had no choice.
At the end of the program entitled "Gospel of Love", they offered a prayer.
I was taken aback by what the prayer leader said afterwards...
"Holy Family, pray for us!"
What?! Yeah, asking Joseph and Mary to pray for us but asking Jesus to pray for you?
Did these Catholic broadcasters know that Christ "sits at the right hand of the Father and will come again to judge the living and the dead"?
We ask mercy from Him not ask us to pray for us!
And these are our Catholic broadcasters!
The blog of a group of Filipino Catholics and their frank commentary on anything that affects their lives as a citizen of the Philippines and as a Roman Catholics.
The Holy Family is not the Divinity but Jesus is. But we can't separate the Divine and Human from Jesus. Likewise we cannot separate Jesus from His family. The Holy Family as an intercessor will require more theological reflection. It bothers me not a bit when we ask for the intercession of the Holy Family. Remember it is the human who rules and governs the Holy Family. If we have to ask the family for something, we need to ask Joseph and Mary who aren't Divine but are the head of the family. The Gospels recount the finding of the boy Jesus with the rabbis of the Temple. "Didn't you know I would be in my Father's house?" The boy Jesus "went down to Nazareth with his parents and were obedient to them" Jesus parents did not understand what he meant. We have to contemplate the Holy Family about what they really are. In our encounter with them, have we really lived as one family?
ReplyDeleteIt is a prefigure of what Christians could be when all of all creation has been Redeemed and Restored. I believe we can ask the Intercession of the Holy Family. This family in its very nature is worthy of veneration. If we can ask the whole Communion of the Saints at Mass, why can't we ask the Holy Family?
And at the centre of the Holy Family is the Christ. How many of our families today still have the Christ at its centre?
The Holy Family is the icon that we should gaze at when we confront threats to the family, materialism, hedonism, divorce,infidelity etc.
O Holy Family pray for us to God who is at thy centre. Amen.
I hope you appreciate this Anglican like reflection on a Catholic icon!
Just to add to this... Jesus does intercede for us to the Father... John 17 is the perfect example. :)
ReplyDelete