Why “family-centered”?
At first glance it might seem obvious why I am always using the term “family-centered”. After all I’m a wife and mother, and whatever else I do my family is my primary vocation and first priority. My life, my faith, my children’s education, all meant to be “family-centered”.
I don’t claim it as my original term or idea, rather it was the theme that always came to mind and seemed to fit. But I had often felt there was a deeper spiritual aspect that I wasn’t quite touching. One that I instinctively “knew” but couldn’t quite put into words. That is until I read an article last summer that spelled it out clearly. It was an article about bishops, their role and sadly even their dysfunction, but it wasn’t those things that got my attention, rather it was this paragraph:
“There is a temptation to view the expressions of the truths of our faith as metaphors or figures of speech. But this is a capital mistake. For example, when we hear the statement that “the Church is the body of Christ,” we may be tempted to ultra-spiritualize it and turn it into a nice saying rather than recognize it as a profound revelation of our status as members who have been incorporated (literally em-bodied) into Christ and living in him. Likewise, when we say that the Church is a family, we mean it quite literally. The Church is not a reflection of the reality that is ‘family’ –quite the opposite. The family is a reflection of the reality that is the Church. We must always bear in mind that spiritual realities are more real, not less real, than physical or natural realities. In Christ we are more truly connected, more truly in communion with people than we are with our own family members.”
Ah! There it is. The deepest, truest meaning why the term “family-centered” can and should apply to everyone –married, single or religious. We are a family and we are united in a very real way. Now that’s a truly beautiful thing to contemplate.
Thank you Father - I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Subscribe to the comments for this post
