IPOH: St Michael’s Church will focus on strengthening family life for the new year, with 5 P’s namely prayer, priority, paradigm shift, protection and paschal mystery. SMC parish priest Msgr Stephen Liew said this during his homily at the Mass of the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph on Dec 26. Prayer as Christian prayer is an encounter with the Trinity.

Priority is to be given to the husband-wife relationship before children or parents, or in-laws. Put family first before work, friends or leisure. We need to make a priority as a family not only to pray but to eat and play together. A paradigm shift is a change of mindset. We need to find creative ways to build family and community.

Protection means parents need to protect the family from harmful influences. Paschal mystery, where we unite our sufferings in our families with the suffering of Christ to experience the new life of the resurrection. This calls for sacrifice and commitment. He said the church provides us with two celebrations helpful for strengthening family life following Christmas.

First, the liturgical calendar celebrates the feastday of St Stephen, the first martyr on Dec 26, the feast of St John the Evangelist on Dec 27, and the feast of the Holy Innocents on Dec 28. All three feasts remind us that following Christ has its demands, even to the point of giving one’s life in order to remain faithful to Christian discipleship.

Family life also has its own demands but none exceeds our strength if we remember God has given us the gift of the divine Son who dwells within each of us through Baptism. Second, the liturgical calendar also has the feast of the Holy Family, and we know life was not easy for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They model for us a family life that is very real and built on caring for each other. It is a school of communion where we learn how to relate to one another and our relationship with God.

Our faith is nurtured in our family. However due to modern living styles now, families find it difficult to be a school of communion. Caring of family members is taken over by schools, hospitals and nursing homes. Computers and television have become child daycaregivers. We often leave the welfare of children to foreign maids. Msgr Liew reminded the people of the emphasis on prioritizing family life next year, and suggested that to have a meal together once a month for the whole year would be very good.