Love fills in the Gaps

Christmas is great. Families get together. People try to create a family atmosphere wherever they are. I’m thinking today with gratitude of all those who, for instance, will on Christmas Day be working in hospitals, in prisons, looking after the homeless, as well as all those who having to work keeping essential services operational for us… They’ll all be making an effort to “create” Christmas for those around them. Thanks to them for making the effort to create a family atmosphere for others away from home.

So yes, Christmas is great. But… we know Christmas can be stressful for families who are physically together at Christmas for longer than any other time of the year. At Christmas we really bump up against each other in our good and not so good points. We see each other’s faults and failings so much more easily at this time.

That’s why I like to remember what Pope Francis said in his Letter on love in the family – “No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed.” Each family and each member of the family is on a journey. We are all growing, hopefully also in our ability to love. But none of us can claim to be perfect in our love. We certainly need to help each other but we have to be careful to stop demanding of one another a perfection or consistency that we will only really achieve in heaven. And that also means not judging harshly this or that family member living in a situation of frailty.

We can make the Christmas story our own by imitating God’s way of doing things. While we were still sinners, he came on earth to save us. He took the initiative. He was the first to love. Each of us, for our part, can be the first to love, not waiting for the others to love us. And we know that love heals. Love fills in the gaps we see in others around us.