“And, as in our common, collective history, this memory of God’s goodness is present; it helps us, and becomes for us a star of hope so that each one also has his personal story of salvation. We must truly treasure the story, and, in order to trust, must keep ever present in our mind, the memory of the great things he has also worked in my life: his mercy endures forever. And if today I am immersed in the dark night, tomorrow, he sets me free, for his mercy is eternal.” (p. 99 “A School of Prayer” Benedict XVI)

If you have time, before you read this post, I would challenge you to open up the Bible and pray Psalm 136 as a way to prepare your hearts and minds. “His mercy endures forever” is a recurring refrain as we pray the psalm as we are reminded of God’s presence throughout salvation history and how His presence both in the moments of joy and suffering recall our thanksgiving and hope in this ever enduring mercy in our lives.

This is where family, memory and tradition meet in such a wonderful and holy way when we allow God to rest in the center of our lives. The reality of God resting in the center of our lives in life-giving in the way it frees us from the grasping and holding on to the moments of memory and those of physical reality which can destroy the unity of life as a family.
Pope Francis from “Amoris Laetitia” writes, “The incarnation of the Word in a human family, in Nazareth, by it’s very newness change the history of the world. We need to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ birth, into that “yes” given by Mary to the message of the angel when the Word was conceived in her womb, as well as the “yes” of Joseph, who gave a name to Jesus and watched over Mary… We need to peer into those thirty long years when Jesus earned his keep by the work of his hands, reciting the traditional prayers and expressions of his peoples faith and coming to know the ancestral faith until he made it bear fruit in the mystery of the Kingdom.” (#65)

Each of us as individuals and as families have hidden years. Years where we grow and develop who we are as individuals, spouses and as a family as a whole. They are years often filled with struggles and certainly a lot of mistakes on how we live our lives. They are hidden years that come and go as we grow in faithfulness and knowledge of who God is and how He has wonderfully made you and me and every person. These hidden years are not simply our childhood but can be for husband and wife those first years of marriage as they enter into a relationship of conforming, molding and embodying the other in the physical, sexual, social and spiritual union of the two becoming one which brings great joy but also incredible sacrifice in love in the creating a family we pray includes the new life of children.
It is for priests and consecrated women and men the hidden years of formation where there is a public face but also the deeper interior struggles and joys of conforming the will to the will of God in and through the gifts of grace that are given.
It is where “His mercy endures forever.”

God bless
Fr. Mark