NBVM Novena Day 4: Single Parents, You Enrich the Church
“We begin this Eucharistic celebration in gratitude for all the single parents gathered today and we remember other single parents that we know who are not among us. Single parents, you enrich the Church by your sacrifices and testimonies.” With these words Fr Simon Labrooy began the 4th Day NBVM Novena Mass dedicated to single parents.
What, where, when, how and with whom we eat tell a great deal about our social lifestyle. In other words, those who gather at our table reveal our inner circle. The natural thing to do is to share meals with people like ourselves – like-minded people who belong within our circle. When someone outside of our circle comes in, it somehow upsets our balance and we don’t know what to do.
In the Gospel of St Luke, the dining table is very important. It is the place for table fellowship of the Father. Everyone is invited to the table of the Lord. In the day’s reading (Luke 6:6-11), we see Jesus coming after having a meal, when someone who needs healing comes to him. Being the Sabbath day, Jesus is not allowed to perform the healing. However, the important point here is neither the healing nor the sabbath, but that the scribes and pharisees were looking at Jesus with hostility, waiting to pounce on him for anything he did wrong. This happens sometimes at our own dining table.
We all see differently. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “There is the Lamb of God.” Herod said, “There is my rival.” Pilate introduced him to the crowd for judgement saying, “Behold the man.” Mary Magdalene recognised Jesus after the resurrection when he revealed himself as her heart was open to him, full of love. The distraught disciples on the Road to Emmaus had their hearts burning within them when Jesus appeared to them. Thomas, though often called the doubter, was actually looking for something to believe and upon being finding that, he professed, “My Lord and my God” and went all the way to martyrdom.
We all see Jesus differently in our lives. Nevertheless, the goal of our lives is to see Jesus and to be with Jesus in heaven. The greatest sorrow is to not be able to see Jesus. As we focus on single parents, we are reminded that sometimes the table that we gather at is not always welcoming, accepting or generous to those who are different from us. There is a tendency to condemn, admonish and alienate those whom our minds perceive to have ruined our reputation and honour.
Our minds can be so closed when it comes to others. “The Church today is enriched by the presence of single parents. The Church is enriched by the young couple who decided to keep the child conceived out of wedlock. The Church is enriched by the struggles and sacrifices of single parents,” stressed Fr Simon. We all know people who are single parents due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances. Indeed, we ourselves may be a single parent and experience, like Jesus did, all eyes fixed on us and waiting to pounce. Today is an invitation for us to see Jesus with an open heart in the person who is carrying their own cross, who is trying to be the best parent they can be as a single parent.
For anyone who is struggling as a single parent, we pray for them. Equally important is that we pray for ourselves too, that the Spirit of the Lord will move us to be of some kind of assistance to them. The invitation of the Spirit is never to condemn, backbite or talk behind and never to wait for someone to make a mistake. Look at the goodness and not for what is bad.
Fr Simon invited the congregation to spend a few moments in silence to remember all single parents they know and bring them before the table of the Lord. We lifted up to the Father, those who are single parents due to having a child out of wedlock, due to the death of a spouse, or due to separation and divorce. We prayed for healing in body, mind and spirit.
We also prayed for relatives who had to take over the responsibility of becoming parents to neglected and orphaned children and for all the children of single parents. We prayed for ourselves that we may be led by the Spirit of the Lord to pray for others and live out our prayers. We asked Mary, the Queen of Peace and mother of the Church to pray for all her children whom we have lifted up today. Finally, we prayed for our homes, that our tables may be a place that we share the table fellowship of Jesus. And for those missing from our table, we prayed for reconciliation.
