Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, December 29, 2024

Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Prayer After Communion for the Feast of the Holy Family.

This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Prayer After Communion for the Feast of the Holy Family.

Bring those you refresh with this heavenly Sacrament, most merciful Father, to imitate constantly the example of the Holy Family, so that, after the trials of this world, we may share their company for ever. Through Christ our Lord.

If I would write a list of the benefits of Holy Communion, I must admit that “refresh” might be a word I wouldn’t think of right away. To me, the verb “refresh” may seem somewhat light. In the Latin form of the prayer, for refresh, we find the word “reficis,” which means to make anew, or to make again. I thought of it this way: to refresh means to fluff the pillows on the couch, to remake means to put a Lego set back together. Somedays I need a refresh, on other days, I definitely need a remake.

Without the heavenly Sacrament, we are unable to be refreshed, or made anew, enabling us to imitate the example of the Holy Family.

Actually, in the Latin form of the prayer, the word for “example” is plural, which tells us that there are many ways to imitate the Holy Family. They show us how to live a life of trust in the Father’s plan. As models of deep trust, they also show us what it means to live in deep peace. The Holy Family is also an example living a life of holiness, they are models of love, and they teach us how to live in community and we are called to be just like them.

While we do want to imitate the Holy Family in this life so that after our trials, we can share their company in the next, we also need to remember that when God breathed His life into us, we are living eternity now. We are called to share in the trust, holiness, peace, love, and fraternity, today. There’s just one thing that stands in our way: the trials of this world.

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