March 15, 2012
Dear Family of Mary!
"Today is a great day of joy and peace. Rejoice with me. Little children, in a special way, I call you to holiness in your families. I desire, little children, that each of your families be holy and that God's joy and peace, which God sends you today in a special way, may come to rule and dwell in your families. Little children, open your hearts today on this day of grace, decide for God and put Him in the first place in your family. I am your Mother. I love you and give you my Motherly Blessing." (December 25, 2006 - Jakov)
Our Lady is very concerned for our families. She loves us individually, but she also loves us as families. She knows that the connection between members of a family is strong, and that we are meant to be connected, supportive and loving as families. This is the normal way for human beings to live. And it is normal, spiritually, for humans too. The family is the basic unit of the Church and of society.
Denis and I pray a prayer written by Fr. John Hampsch every day - the Prayer for the Healing of the Family Tree. In this prayer, Fr. Hampsch makes it very clear that we are connected to our current family, to our ancestors and to our future family members by a strong bond. We pray in that prayer that we can forgive all the wrongs and sins committed by our ancestors, and that we can heal all wounds those sins have created. We pray for a blessing upon all our family, freedom from the enemy, and a holy bonding in family love. It is a wonderful prayer.
I have also been reading Fr. Hampsch' book, Healing Your Family Tree. Let me share a short excerpt with you, in which Fr. Hampsch describes our natural and spiritual connectedness to our families (as well as our neighbors and friends), and the consequences of this connection.
"My people perish from lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). As we learn more about the nature of generational sin and its transmission, we come to understand something of the communitarian nature of grace as well as sin, the societal functions of the spiritual factors in human existence. Pope John XXIII once said, "We humans are saved and sanctified in clusters, like grapes." As we pray together we reinforce each other in holiness by community prayer. If we sin together (for instance, in adultery, gossip-spreading, and team theft) we reinforce each other in evil by bad example and cooperation in sin. For instance, in gang activities bad influence is obviously contagious, and, conversely, the infectious good influence is found in prayer communities.
The communitarian nature of grace and the communitarian nature of sin are something we usually don't give enough thought to until we consider the consequences of ancestral sin with its sequential effects on others, and present sin with its contemporaneous effects on others. Living family members can be contaminated or enriched as a group, but also even the descendants and those as yet unborn can also be affected favorably or unfavorably. The communitarian element extends itself not only horizontally but also vertically from the past ancestors to future descendants. Truly, there is a "clustering" of good and evil, like good or rotten descendants (to extend the analogy of Pope John XXIII).
Likewise we suffer in clusters, like grapes that are crushed, not one at a time, but many at once. I can hardly conceive of any kind of human suffering that doesn't have some bearing upon those around us. An alcoholic may be suffering from the driving force of the compulsion to drink, but the whole family also suffers. A government study found that a high percentage of juvenile delinquents come from broken homes and half had another family member who had been imprisoned. Could some non-biological (spiritual) factor possibly be involved?
Someone has said, "No one goes to hell alone"; the damned person always drags others to hell with him. But neither does anyone go to heaven alone, but by goodness, one influences others to move heavenward. This is especially true of parents influencing their children for good, but it is also a worker influencing a co-worker for good, or a parishioner influencing a fellow parishioner. The power of good example can hardly be overestimated. If we were to see the communitarian dimension of grace and how deeply involved we are in this network of grace, we would be awestruck with our great responsibility." (Fr. John Hampsch, C.M.F. Healing Your Family Tree. Goleta, CA. Queenship Publishing, 1989. P. 21-22)
It helps me to think about how bonded and connected we are as human beings. We do not exist alone. We all have some sort of family. And we are connected to them by a spiritual bond that is real and powerful. No wonder Our Lady asks us to pray in the family, to love in the family, to put God in the first place in the family. This is how we move our "cluster" nearer to heaven. We can be a positive influence on our family members, even if we are not physically present to them, even if we haven't communicated in years. If we are putting God in the first place, if we are praying the Rosary, converting, repenting, fasting, and loving others as Our Lady has taught us, we will be helping to pull our ancestors and family members closer to heaven. They are connected to us, by spiritual bonds of love, and we make a difference in their lives.
Let's pull hard, to get all our loved ones into heaven!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2012
PS. I recommend Fr. Hampsch' book, Healing Your Family Tree. It is available at Queenship Publishing, www.queenship.org or 1-800-647-9882.
PPS. Here is Fr. Hampsch' prayer, for those who would like it:
PRAYER FOR HEALING THE FAMILY TREE
REV. JOHN H. HAMPSCH, C.M.F.
Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help; I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.
With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son, Jesus, and in the power of his Holy Spirit, I ask you, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your precious Son, Jesus, I beg you to extend your blessing to me and to all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree.
I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the bloodlines in my family lineage. Set your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits.
In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever-deeper bonding with you, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son, Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus' precious Name. Amen.
St. Joseph, Patron of family life, pray for us. Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us.
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