Regan, Jeffrey P

English

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University: DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU

Obsculta Volume 2 Issue 1 Article 11 April 2014 Blue Waters of the Atlantic, Watch Hill, RI, July 2008 Jeffrey P. Regan College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/obsculta  Part of the Photography Commons ISSN: 2472-2596 (print) ISSN: 2472-260X (online) Recommended Citation Regan, Jeffrey P.. 2009. Blue Waters of the Atlantic, Watch Hill, RI, July 2008. Obsculta 2, (1) : 33-33. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/obsculta/vol2/iss1/11. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Obsculta by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@csbsju.edu. 33obscultavided by those who are single? Do we remind them or single parents of  the likeness these hard-working men and women share with Mary? Those who pro-vide pillars of  love and faith to this community and others, single-handedly?I will admit, this was a revelation for me! Have you ever seen the Holy Family this way; through the phases of  their lives as Jesus’ parents?I am convinced that the ebb and flow in the lives of  the members of  the family we honor today mod-el a much broader and more human family than we might give them credit for at first glance, certainly more than the census statistics. All at once we see:- that at the same time Mary might celebrate the joy of  motherhood through childbirth, Jo-seph may celebrate with you in the seamless-ness and joy of  adoption- that they might ache with you and your spouse who cannot conceive- that Mary could relate to the despair of  losing a child to injustice—be that terminal illness, gang violence, drunk driving, war, or fetal loss- that Mary was likely both widow and single mother By the Lord’s wisdom and intricate design, Je-sus was welcomed into the world in a way that every person can relate to. What seemed like one specific model is actually multidimensional and very close to home. It is understandable that for the many of  us who do not fit into this “average family,” or cannot relate to the traditional story of  the Nativity, these times of  family gatherings where dreaded questions of  children and family inevitably arise can be pain-ful. In the spirit of  Luke’s gospel, and at this time when family and friends gather together with nostal-gia over Monopoly and eggnog or, in true Griswold fashion, snowy roads and delayed flights, it seemed a particularly fitting time to look for and acknowledge the “holy families” in our lives, including our own.Blue Waters of the Atlantic, Watch Hill, RI July 2008Jeffrey P. Regan

Blue Waters of the Atlantic, Watch Hill, RI, July 2008

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Blue Waters of the Atlantic, Watch Hill, RI, July 2008

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