We recently hung a faded picture on a dining room wall in our home. After working at Kodak for years, and being a critical evaluator of image quality, I had to chuckle when I so readily wanted to display this particular faded picture in our home. It has a dark blue background along with images of a glass of red wine and a loaf of bread. In white letters, are the words: “Jesus of Nazareth requests the honor of your presence at a dinner to be given in His Honor.”
The immediate reason that this picture came to us, was because it was given to us by my wife Liz’s mom during a recent house downsizing. You are probably familiar with that phenomenon as either a giver or receiver! But the real reason it found its way to our dining room wall was because it had been prominently displayed in Liz’s home throughout her life.
One of the attributes of the picture of which I am most fond is the fact that its colors are faded due to the passage of time. The fading reminds me that the faith that Liz and I share today was passed on from one generation to the next. It reminds me of the adage that “faith is more caught than taught”.
Our faith is shared and embraced because the Gospel is proclaimed by someone who is living that faith. If you reflect on your faith journey, you will certainly trace the first glowing embers of your own faith to either family, a friend or someone whose path crossed yours at the right time. They took the time to share the Gospel with you, and it made a difference. And now it is our turn. It is our turn to invite back those who have strayed from their faith or those who have never heard the Gospel.
On this Sunday that we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, we thank God for the family of our Church in which we receive God’s love and life. May we share God’s love so that others see our Church as a family – a family to which they want to belong!
Deacon Frank