Where there is ‘greater love than fear’
The feast of the Holy Family and the eve of the feast of Our Lady, Holy Mother of God This Sunday is rather unique, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family and anticipate the Feast of Our Lady, Holy Mother of God. It is also special, as 2024 has been designated by the Holy Father as a Year of Prayer in preparation for the Jubilee Year of Hope and Jubilee Year of the Youth in 2025.
I wish to offer for our reflection the role of the family in fostering the prayer life of its members, our Blessed Mother’s example as a person of prayer and our mission to prepare a world for our youth.I have constantly advocated the formation of the family as a safe space and a sacred space. Chris Lowney, in his 2003 book “Heroic Leadership,” pointed out the importance of a caring environment where there is “greater love than fear.”He cited this “secret” of Ignatian formation that accounted for some of the greatest achievements in human civilization. This “greater love than fear” is foundational in creating a safe space.
In a very complex world, it is important to have a safe space for members of the family or a community to go home to, a space where they feel they can be themselves—chill, as the young would say—without fear of judgment, rejection or worse, bullying.
As Lowney put it, a caring environment also provides opportunities for its members to achieve their full human potential. This is where the transition or pivot to being a sacred space is key.
Livelihood
I turn to Fr. Hans Kung for this pivot. His three elements will help achieve a full human life: something to live on, something to live form and something to die for.
Families prioritize education to prepare the young to be gainfully employed or ready for some form of livelihood—something to live on.
It is a natural and important stage to discover and pursue purpose. Dr. William Damon of the Center for Adolescent Studies of Stanford University has time and again emphasized the importance of purpose for the formation and development of the youth.
Purpose is elevated to a life commitment, a life project, a life mission when it is transformed from something to live for to something to die for.
This leads us into the realm of the sacred, an encounter with a transcendent being, with God that inspires mission and the readiness to die to self and, in our faith tradition, embrace martyrdom as a special grace from God.
This is sacred space where one connects with God and places oneself at his disposal. Paraphrasing St. Ignatius of Loyola: To you I return all that You have given me, and all that I am that You may dispose of me wholly according to Your will.
The offering in mission is the fruit of a sacred space.
The Blessed Mother, as well as St. Joseph, must have nurtured our Lord in this kind of family environment. In His baptism story, which we will celebrate a week from tomorrow, we see His vocation story, the moment of clarity of vision. He is the Beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased.
We must bear in mind that Jesus was fully human, and like all of us, went through the human process of development. He slowly saw and understood who He was (identity) and why He was in this world (mission).
Yet as He lived this, we see how, time and again, He spent time in prayer. Amid His busy life, He would spend time in solitude to pray, a moment of discernment to check with His Father that not only was He doing His Father’s will, but also as the Father had planned it—His mission.
Discernment
The prayer of discernment, I am sure, he learned too from His mother—the Blessed Mother, who constantly kept things in her heart, especially those moments she did not clearly understand at the outset.
We first see our Blessed Mother discerning her own mission in the narrative of the Incarnation of Jesus. Her discerning spirit is coupled with another grace of prayer when she tells the waiters at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Discernment of the Spirit of God and the centrality of Jesus, and obedience in following Him more nearly, are the hallmarks of our Blessed Mother’s example of prayer.
Finally, our mission is to prepare a world for our youth, with 2024 as a year of prayer and a preparation for the Jubilee Year of Hope and the Jubilee Year of the Youth in 2025.
Before Pope Francis announced the next World Youth Day venue at the end of this year’s World Youth Day in Portugal, he invited the youth to a Jubilee Year of the Youth in Rome together with the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025.
The theme of the Jubilee Year is “Pilgrims of Hope.”
We Filipinos have a deeper affinity to this Jubilee Year of Hope and Jubilee Year of the Youth. Our national hero, whose 127th anniversary of martyrdom we commemorated yesterday, put it together for us: “The youth is the hope of our nation.”
We are invited to make this year a year of prayer to prepare ourselves, our families and communities, and our nation to usher in the Jubilee Year of Hope for our youth, the hope of our nation. —Contributed INQ
