We tend to measure life by the breath we take in rather than by the breath that is taken away. Now Niagara Falls takes our breath away, but what I’m talking about underscores and yet surpasses that wondrous experience. It consists in discovering and living out the meaning and plenitude of life and that living out makes life fully satisfying and happy. All of us come to that experience as family, and as such we become happy not as an individual but rather as a “we” united as family. It all starts from our necessary ties and relationships with our mother and father.

Even our very existence begins as a “we with them” - by being conceived in our mother’s womb and that necessary communion forming a “we with them” persists. We were fed, clothed, sheltered, and educated by them. If what takes our breath away infuses and enriches everything I’ve mentioned, like coffee grounds give flavour and aroma to water, it yet is different and surpasses them. It is their gift of love that ultimately takes our breath away. Their love for us satisfied all our longings and slaked all our thirst. Thus, becoming who we are was ultimately not our doing but rather responding to and treasuring their Gift of Love.

I hope the following comparison sheds light upon what I’m saying. As children, let us imagine ourselves as flowers. Flowers exist for one reason alone - to radiate colours. Their beauty has often taken our breath away. We observe that flowers, of themselves, do not produce their stunning beauty. It comes from outside of Homily Macaulay-Morrison Family Reunion them in the form of light that they receive and then reflect. Without light, flowers cannot be flowers; they cannot exude and radiate beauty.

Likewise, we cannot produce by ourselves what makes our human lives beautiful, meaningful, and happy. We must form a “we” with our parents to live fruitful and happy lives. Thus, the fourth commandment, “Honour your father and mother”, grows in necessity and importance. Jesus, in his childhood, gives us the example. In the Gospel of Luke, we find the following account: “Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them. Jesus grew both tall and wise and was loved by God and man.” (Luke 2:51)

Jesus grew in stature and wisdom because he was obedient to Joseph and Mary - because he had formed a “we with them”.
But we must admit that at all times and circumstances, we did not honour our parents. We failed at times to trust and confide in their guidance as Jesus always trusted and confided in Joseph and Mary. Although always necessary, their loving presence was not always welcome. As children, we were good but not always. Sometimes we were bad and thus our behaviour was somewhat streaky. But when we distanced ourselves from our parents by rejecting their presence and their guidance, our parents never distanced themselves from us. Far from rejecting us, they offered us a forgiving hand to pull us out of the unhappy hole that our defiance and rebellion had dug for us. Thank heaven more often that not, we laid aside our shovel to grasp the loving hands they extended to us and we began to be “we’s” again.

Family life has its own sacrament: a rite that symbolizes and strengthens the loving ties between parents and children, and between the children themselves. That sacrament is the family meal shared at the family table. I recall that mom and dad sat at the ends while the six children occupied the sides, three on each. Each one had his or her own place at the dinner table to share not only the meal Homily Macaulay Morrison Family Reunion but also ourselves with one another. Our dinner table was somewhat special. It was split or joined at the centre to allow the insertion of a centrepiece that would expand the table to accommodate guests. Thus our sharing extended beyond the immediate family.

All meals were important to symbolize and strengthen the loving ties that united us as a family. But some meals were more important than others: birthdays, anniversaries, homecomings, and holidays. The most important was the family Christmas supper. It celebrated the amazing and astounding decision of the eternal Son of God to become Emmanuel - God with us - by assuming our human nature. Thus began the wondrous interchange between God and us.

God assumes human life so that we might share in his divine life. I believe the repeated celebration of Christmas awoke within us the gift of faith: to trust in God who has loved us so much that he not only created us as his creatures but also sent his only eternal begotten Son in our human nature to transform us into his daughters and sons. He portrays this great project that is life and happiness for us as the Kingdom of God. The sign and symbol that he has chosen to capture the living out of this project is a banquet feast. All have a place at the banquet and all are called to share in it as children of God. Thus, the Holy Family was constituted so that all mankind could live as family.

Jesus proclaims to us in the “Book of Revelation”: “Look, I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me.” Christmas revealed to us that the wondrous and life-giving, unconditional love of our parents had its foundation and fount in Christ. They were its channels not its source. Because Christ and his unconditional love will be available to us always, even to the end of time, we could take leave of our home and thus the physical presence of our parents and brothers and sisters. The loving ties remain but they have Homily Macaulay Morrison Family Reunion undergone a maturation. The sacrament of the Eucharist instituted by Christ celebrates and brings us to that maturation of his love in us. Being grown up or mature in love is to share it with everyone without exception. Life is not about us as we are about life. Abundant life is sharing God’s unconditional love. In living our lives, we can fall into the dualistic and polarizing trap of “I or them”. Notice what is happening. It implies fixed, harsh judgments about others that will lead to mistrust, disengagement, distancing and ultimate separation.

Remember, the only way an “I” is becoming a “we” and the only way I can become a “we” is to lovingly care for another with compassion.

This weekend descendants of the Macaulay Morrison tree of life are celebrating the loving and caring ties between us. If we are to remain true to our heritage, we must recognize that our love is not limited to our DNA or bloodline but rather it extends to all as our brothers and sisters in Christ without exception in his compassion and mercy. That is the legacy that the Macaulays and Morrisons before us have left us.