“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
December 29 – 30, 2018
Scripture: Luke 2: 41-52
41) Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 42) and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. 43) After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44) Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45) but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46) After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, 47) and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. 48) When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” 49) And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50) But they did not understand what he said to them. 51) He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52) And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
I grew up in a parish in Warwick, Rhode Island. At most, there were 600 families, including survivors of the Great Depression and World War II, however, this small parish produced five priests. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits… every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:15-17). The parish members in my boyhood church were happy and had a common mission…to be holy. Through the gift of faith, we can all be holy. However, to be holy, you must be willing to give up the high cost of low living. Is it hard? Yes. Is it as hard as the devil tells us it is? No. Do people fall short? Yes.
My family is no different than yours. Some of my cousins do not go to church, even though their families made sacrifices to send them to Catholic school. So, what can we do? As a family and as a church, we can pray and sacrifice for them. For example, in the military, if fellow soldiers are struggling with their 60 lb. backpacks during a 12 mile nature walk, we don’t ask if we can help….we take their burdens onto our own backs and go. If someone falls, we pick them up and carry them. In the same way, we can help each other, and all of God’s children, by shouldering their crosses, just as Christ did for us.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you strive to be holy? Will you help others who are struggling by shouldering their crosses?