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You may wish to play some appropriate music, then read the script
Checking out your DNA May 2009 MM & MTO
During this year of St Paul, we have talked about St Paul’s writings, his legacy of letters. Because the Church authorised his writings as authentic and inspired by the Holy Spirit for the welfare and guidance of all, they are ours. This got me thinking about family legacies and histories. Many parents tell me of their children’s request for family information. Sometimes it is a social studies project of compiling a family tree or a religious lesson wanting to know the denominational history of early family members. Recently, I was startled by a sentence attributed to a leading church person who said that “Church Archives are the footprints of Christ.” Initially I thought it was a bit romantic describing archives as such and joked to myself imagining Jesus walking through the dust of an archival room and leaving his footprints on the floor. But then the meaning of the comment got through the cobwebs. We can find Christ in our history. In New Zealand, written family histories are commonplace these days. Hundreds of Kiwis belong to genealogical societies and are involved in delving into archives and libraries in search of their family history - their biological DNA. In NZ, we are blessed with good resources, available either freely or for a small fee. People in Europe and even the USA express surprise to me when conversation turns to this pastime, saying they would not know where to begin. I expressed a view that we are closer to the founders of our European NZ families. We know when they arrived here, on what ships and where they stepped ashore in the nineteenth century, so it is usually easy to find a place to begin. Maori too have oral traditions linking them to a particular canoe and landing place. On both sides of my family, the Craddock and Forde, family histories have been written, each one beginning with the couple who arrived in Dunedin in the 1860s. An organised colony, Otago kept accurate records of comings and goings. Electoral records, taxes, royalties and custom duties were kept and safely stored in local archives, libraries, Settlers Museums and parish offices. So just as Church archives and parish registers are the footprints of Christ, so civic archives truly can be called family footprints. A few years ago, a great friend - a member of the Marist Third Order, aged 75 - phoned excitedly: “John, I have found my mother!” Wow! I knew my friend was raised in an orphanage, mainly in the good care of the Sisters of the Missions, to whom he was life-timely grateful. He told me his mother was in her nineties and he had visited her the day before. Within a few hours, he discovered he was related to a hundred other people, many of whom he already knew through professional contacts. These contacts were cemented when, not long after, he attended an uncle’s funeral. It was a revelation to the whole family and a joy to my friend, who died only last year and was mourned by many of these newly found relatives, including his aged mother. Sometimes I hear of a family buzzing after it has discovered it is connected to important people. For some there is a touch of excitement to be connected by blood or by marriage to a significant family, or to have a family connection to a place name, a sports hero or heroine, or a national celebrity. Hopefully, these important folk can become role models for the next generation, just as, for Catholics, saints can become patron saints, holy helpers and role models in living the Gospel. The very first Gospel, that of St Matthew, begins with the genealogy of Jesus. Sometimes on the day scheduled for its reading, a well meaning liturgist or priest will skip over some of the awkward names or, to keep it short, will omit it all together in favour of something ‘nicer’ for the occasion. I think that is a mistake. The complete genealogy is important for many reasons, only one or two I can give you here. The triple fourteen generations is just one interesting aspect. Another is the foreign element on the female side, where there are listed Tamar, Rahab and Ruth “being his mother.” Check that out! The genealogy emphasises Jesus’ Israelite descent. It shows how Jesus is connected with the leading recipients of the messianic promises, i.e. with Abraham and David and with the latter’s royal line. If it is good enough for Jesus to have family connections to inspire and place him in history, its good enough for us to preserve, explore and maintain our family links to keep us faithful. And what about your spiritual history, the inner history you have made and are still making? How did an event or person influence you, alter your awareness, deepen your faith in Christ, firm your commitment to Gospel values and to the place of the Church in your personal life and that of your family? What keeps you energised in faith, hope and love today? What miracles and crosses followed? What were the moments of Grace that enabled you to say “yes” to the Lord, as Mary did? May Mary, who gave birth to Jesus and so is mentioned in his genealogy, who stayed with her Son to the end, be with you also all the way. In this time of Easter season, it can be good to reflect on our family and spiritual history, to be uplifted by and with the Resurrected Christ who ascends to his Heavenly Father’s right hand, and to give thanks for our DNA. |
