Feast of Saint Cyprian of Carthage

Good morning. The Gospel reading for today reminds us that God presents Himself to us in a variety of ways and that He allows Himself to work through a diverse group of people. We must always keep in mind that God’s ways are not our ways, and He is always full of surprises. He doesn’t always speak to us in ways that are necessarily familiar. The lives of, Jesus, Mary and Joseph—the Holy Family—seem familiar to us and yet little is actually known about their family life. Yet, God has a message there for us in what little we do know of the family life of the Holy Family. Certainly we know a great deal more about Jesus, although we know very little of His life as a child. What we do know of His childhood is that although He is God He is as human as the rest of us in all ways but sin. We can all look to His spiritual journey and to His journey of self-awareness for our own way to become increasingly aware of our own calling as married, single or religious. In what we know of the life of Mary we find a message of absolute obedience, of saying “Yes!” to God. We hope to say “yes” to God’s messages to us as well. Like Mary, we are called to find His voice in our lives and to make it known in the lives of our spouse, our children, and others we encounter on our own journey. And of course Joseph, and we know even less of the life of Joseph but that he was a "just man" and like Mary he was obedient to God’s message. Most importantly what we know from the family life of the Holy Family is the message of love. No matter what hardships we know about in the life of the Holy Family, we see in their lives their love for one another and their capacity to find God’s blessings and gift of love in each situation. Blessed Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer), had this to say regarding the witness of love of the Holy Family: “How much the family of today can learn from this! The essence and role of the family are in the final analysis specified by love. Hence the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church his bride.” We witness in the life of the Holy Family that it is their love for one another and their listening to and obedience to God’s voice in their life that gets them through the challenges of their life together. Most Holy Family pray for us and may today we likewise be witness to His love. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Cyprian—Bishop and Martyr. “Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.” ~Saint Cyprian