Hopefully, this Christmas is a new beginning for your relationships with your mother, father, other family members, and yourself. The Lord has given you new graces to help you live and grow in holiness. May you allow the Lord to come into your life and your heart to live anew with your family and the Lord. Christ is born for us. Let us adore him.
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Sr. Miriam reads this prayer for families from St. John Paul II:
\n\n“Lord God, from you every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. Father, you are Love and Life. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, born of woman, and through the Holy Spirit, fountain of divine charity, grant that every family on earth may become for each successive generation a true shrine of life and love. Grant that your grace may guide the thoughts and actions of husbands and wives for the good of their families and of all the families in the world. Grant that the young may find in the family solid support for their human dignity and for their growth in truth and love. Grant that love, strengthened by the grace of the sacrament of marriage, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. Through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that the Church may fruitfully carry out her worldwide mission in the family and through the family. We ask this of you who is life, truth, and love, with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
\n\nHave you ever wondered why Jesus was born in a stable? Sr. Miriam reflects on how the stable is a metaphor for your heart. You might think there is no way Jesus could be born in a stable or in your heart or in your family. But Sr. Miriam assures us that Jesus wants to be in your heart and in your family even in the midst of woundedness and selfishness. He desires to be in your family to heal all of you. Whatever your family situation, the Holy Family invites you to the stable this Christmas, to hold the infant Jesus, to sit with Mary and Joseph in the middle of the night, and to experience the healing power of the love and mercy of God.
\n\nWhat would you like God to do for your family this Advent and Christmas? Tell the Lord what your family needs. The Lord wants wholeness and communion for all of you. Let Christ’s light shine in the stable of your heart this Christmas!
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In Come Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting, Mother Mary Francis, PCC, writes:
\n“The human heart is always filled with some kind of wonder. It is one of the first signs of the growing awareness of a small child. Who has not smiled to see a little infant discovering that he has feet; he has hands? He is full of wonder. Then as he grows, he becomes more and more full of wonder at the tings he can do. Wonder is so radical to the human heart.”
One of the things that makes children so endearing is that they see the beauty and excitement in everyday life—always exploring, playing, and learning. But then, as children grow up, that wonder and excitement for life seems to fade away.
\n\nSr. Miriam invites you to explore your childhood. What were some of the most joyful times in your life? What experiences led to sorrowful memories? Allow these memories to come to the surface and let the Lord speak the truth to who you are as a child made in God’s goodness and likeness. May you know in your heart that you ARE a beloved son or daughter of God!
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Sr. Miriam shares a quote from Through the Heart of St. Joseph by Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB:
\n\n“As we place ourselves in the position of Jesus in St. Joseph’s arms, we can learn the greatest experience of fatherhood. We learn from St. Joseph what it means to be unconditionally loved. It is an invitation to be little and childlike. When we take the risk of being vulnerable, like a child, we get a taste of divine love and we experience a father’s tenderness for his son.”
\nSt. Joseph exemplifies the gift of masculinity. He was a strong, steadfast, and righteous man who lived in honesty and honor. In humility and awe, he was the protector of Mary and Jesus.
You may see your own father reflected in the life of St. Joseph or you may deeply yearn for a father (or father figure) who is more like St. Joseph. Sr. Miriam encourages you to acknowledge the pain in your heart for your father and to pray that the Lord will bless him and bring you into deeper healing with him.
\n\nSpending time with the Holy Family in prayer allowed Sr. Miriam to experience profound healing and restoration in her own heart. The Holy Family’s unconditional love reminds her of the love of God the Father. Even when our human fathers may not be present or affirming in our lives, the Lord is here and ready to tell us, “I love you and I am so proud of you.”
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Sr. Miriam shares a beautiful quote from The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander:
\n“Mary is not wearied with our littleness; her smile comes down to us like a benediction through the sea of flickering candles, she blesses our wild flowers withering at her feet. For each one of us is ‘another Christ’ each one, to Mary, is her only child. It is, therefore, not tedious to her to hear the trifles that we tell her, to look at the bruises we bring to her, and seeing our wound of sin to heal it.”
In this epsiode, Sr. Miriam guides you to remember your mother. What was she like? What memories of her move your heart with joy? When was your mother not present to you? When did she not see you or meet your needs? The Lord is inviting you to surrender to him—and Our Lady—in these vulnerable and difficult places and to ask for healing to work through this relationship with your mother.
\n\nNo matter what has happened with your own mother, you have a spiritual mother, Mary, who LOVES you! She is kind, attentive, truthful, and desires to draw you closer to Jesus so that you might become fully alive in her son.
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Sr. Miriam understands that when we recall experiences from our childhood or relationships with our parents that make us feel stressed or sad, we naturally build walls to shield us from the pain. The three most common defense mechanisms she sees are:
\n\nSr. Miriam will guide you through these defenses as you allow the Holy Spirit to accompany you while being cared for by the love of the Holy Family—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
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