What Goes Around Comes Around

A Reflection on the First Reading for December 29th, 2019:
The Feast of the Holy Family

Sirach 3.2-6, 12-14

The Lord honours a father above his children,
and he confirms a mother’s rights over her sons.
Whoever honours their father atones for sins
and gains preservation from them;
when they pray, they will be heard.
Whoever respects their mother
is like one who lays up treasure.
The person who honours their father
will have joy in their own children,
and when they pray they will be heard.
Whoever respects their father will have a long life,
and whoever honours their mother obeys the Lord.

My child, help your father in his old age,
and do not grieve him as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fails, be patient with him;
because you have all your faculties,
do not despise him all the days of his life.
For kindness to your father will not be forgotten,
and will be credited to you against your sins --
a house raised in justice for you.

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What goes around comes around. I have found this saying to be so true in my life. Whatever I place on the carousel of life and send out into the world inevitably returns. When I send joy and love out into the world, that’s what comes back to me. When I send distrust and resentment out into the world, that comes back to me as well. The lesson for me is that the life I want—a life of joy—does not happen by accident: I must build a joyful life through the decisions I make about how I will treat others.

There are many passages in the Bible that support the premise that what you give determines what you receive: “you reap what you sow” (Galatians 6:7); “for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).

Even though I know that what I put out is what I get back, I must admit that I don’t always go for the joy and love. It can be tempting to shun the high road. God realizes this weakness in human beings but promises that, if we do the work, in time we will receive the reward.

The book of Sirach has a specific application of this: we are told that we should respect our parents and, in so doing, will in turn be respected by our own children (Sirach 3:5). Being loving and merciful to others in our family can be a challenge at times. It was a challenge for the Holy Family as well, but they did it.

We tend to think of the Holy Family as fully-formed saints from birth. However, we know that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had challenges similar to those faced by all families, and some were pretty serious. Imagine how difficult it was for Mary to tell Joseph that she was expecting a baby who was not his—and how difficult it was for Joseph to hear that news. Yet Joseph’s decision to follow the angel’s message and show mercy to Mary is a model for us, especially, when we are hurting. Think of how much good came to Joseph and to the world thereafter because of his mercy and openness to God’s message.

Think also about the time Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem after his family had left, and Joseph and Mary spent three days anxiously looking for him. They asked him: “Why have you treated us like this?” In answer, Jesus submitted to the authority of His parents, even though He was divine and they were human. And in consequence, He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:48, 51-52).

Even God, becoming human, honoured His parents in precisely the way Sirach described. He got back what He put out, and more—His heavenly Father listened to His prayers, and the world was changed because of it.



​Donna Davis

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