God and Family are Preeminent

by Deacon Jeff Strom  |  03/02/2023  |  Images of Faith

In St. John's Baptism Gospel of Life, the Son of God Jesus Christ is with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descends like dove, and God the Father's voice is from heaven in St. Mark's account. So, is the Gospel about the Trinity, family, Baptism, life or preeminence? Of course, the answer is YES! All of the above. So, what does preeminent mean? Preeminent has Latin origin and means outstanding, standing out, or above all else.

God is preeminent above all. On some Sundays at 11:00am, I'm blessed to preside at the Baptisms of up to three little ones. Why do we need family and Baptism into God's family? Because God in Himself is family of Three Persons, yet one God, in the Trinity. We are all created by God in his image and likeness, so you can say that being in family is built into who we are as human beings. We need family because we are made for love and need to know that God loves us. God as Trinity means that He is family of love and that love is so real it has name, the person of the Holy Spirit. To show us that type of infinite love, God created man and woman to love each other in Holy Matrimony fully, faithfully, forever, and fruitfully. That love can be so real that in nine months, you need a name. Baptism welcomes that tiny boy or girl miracle of life into God's family of life and love, the Trinity and the Church.

The family is preeminent in society. Like the Trinity, mom, dad and child form one family, yet they are three distinct persons. Pope St. John Paul taught that the family is the building block or cell of society and that, as the family goes, so goes society. It doesn't take the government or village to raise child. It takes family with both mom and dad to raise child and strong families to build village and society. Even in America, with its focus on self-reliant individualism, the family is the building block of society. It's not the individual, the village, the state, or collective group. The Catholic Catechism is clear that, "The Church rejects the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated with communism or socialism." (CCC 2425). Pope Leo XIII wrote about the evils of socialism in his 1891 encyclical letter to the world, "Rerum Novarum."

Since the family is an image of the Trinity, Satan is determined to destroy the natural family, based on natural marriage between man and woman. Our Catholic faith can be lost in just one generation, as we see way too often; so parents, godparents, family, friends, and the Church all have an important responsibility to pray for, support, and teach all newly baptized Christians as they grow in their faith. The Sacrament of Baptism is grace-filled encounter with Christ, means of salvation, and loving welcome into God's family. So, God is preeminent above all, the family is preeminent in society, and life is preeminent every day.