The Holy Family

by Fr. David Halm, C.S.C.  |  12/31/2023  |  Pastor's Letter

Happy New Year! Dr. Ralph Wilson, a California pastor and Vietnam War veteran, wrote a fable about two newly-married mice. The young mouse-couple had made their first home in a nest of sticks and brush in the midst of a pile of firewood near the edge of the woods. One day this whole pile was lifted, log by log - with a lot of the sticks and brush caught up in them, including their home - and thrown into the back of a pickup truck. Despite their best attempts to cling to the wood, the married-mice couple were suddenly homeless. This terrible destruction of their home from some unseen force in the sky had never happened to them and they were devastated to now be starting back from scratch. But they were together and alive, safe from their home’s eventual winter fireplace destination. Dr. Wilson’s moral: “don’t cling to the firewood.”

We Christians do not believe that God causes the tragedies, separations and hurt we experience. On the contrary He loves and saves. Nevertheless, when major life changes occur we can begin the grieving process by blaming. A reasonable Person to start with is God: Why would He let this happen? Why didn’t He intervene? Doesn’t He care? Of course God loves us! Yet, His ways and thoughts are far beyond ours (Isaiah 55:9) and we may not know those answers in this earthly life. In the meantime we do well to consider how God is leading us and continuing to care for us - even in the midst of tragedy or immediately after it.

As we finish 2023 and begin the Year of Our Lord 2024, we aren’t clinging to any firewood from last year. For the loved ones we have lost, we hold their memories close and celebrate their eternal life. For the injuries we suffered (physical or emotional), we work on continued healing. For the pain or drama we may have inflicted on others, we make amends and seek forgiveness. In these ways we let the Lord bring us forward from the past and into today. We trust God to keep us going, help us to navigate safely what lay ahead and so pray with the Psalmist “Search me, O God, and know my heart and know my thoughts…lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:24)

We have a big year ahead at St. John Vianney and we’ll do it all just as we have been, with lots of faith, hope and love - and altogether as a big family! I’m praying for you and we very much appreciate all the prayers you say for us priests and the parish ministers and staff. Celebrate the New Year well and safely and always remember:

“The family that prays together, stays together!”

Fr. David