In the current mental health field there exists the highly recognized phenomenon referred to as "Family Systems Theory". Family Systems Theory proposes in part that family consists of numerous members working together as an individual "system". Each member of the system effects not only each other member, but also the family as a whole. (Like an automobile engine, where small pieces either enhance or disrupt the functioning of the greater good.) It is upon this basic principle that many of we psychotherapists practice our trade of assisting individuals and their families.
Perhaps in many respects this approach is a productive way to examine human behavior. Yet, I wish to relate here that for Christians who are loyal, practicing Catholics, the approach of "Family Systems Theory" is sorely limited. If the approach is not limited in principle, it is certainly limited in scope. The reason is for the committed Catholic, one's family is absolutely "not" limited to one's father, mother, brother or sister. Not even limited to cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents or an entire block in a community! Deeply, in a practical way, a practicing Catholic grasps the concept of family far beyond the mere relationships of family seen with physical eyes.
Respectfully, our Protestant brothers and sisters do not easily understand what I'm saying here. To the sincere Catholic, "statues" are not what is real. Our blessed Mother Mary is not herself worshiped. But instead a profound and deeply felt communication is practiced accross a broad and vast family of God through the Holy Spirit. It is done through personal prayer, wrote prayers, Mass, sacred ceremony, saying of the rosary, and so on. ... As we who are Christian believers would ask one another to pray for a specific matter on earth, so we Catholics believe, to the core of our very being, that the faithfull who have gone on to the next life, the saints, continue heartily in prayer for us who are now passing through the valley of this life.
And we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the Queen of all saints. ... No, don't misunderstand, we do not "worship" Mary. Yet, in a manner as one might reverance, respect and "hail" one's earthly mother, we as a global church in worship of Christ, reverance, respect and hail the mother of Christ as our mother as well! (We love the hands who poured water and nourished our Savior when He was a child. We reverance her voice, as we believe she prayed to baby Jesus at night, and sometimes calmed His cries with her mother tenderness.)
We believe Jesus loved His mother dearly. Not only that He did, but that He continues to love her. Catholics, the one who have not fallen away from their faith, spend time "loving" our mother who was, and continues to be, the mother of Christ.
We believe that when God prepared Mary for mothership of Diety, God made her "Full of Grace", and that the grace in Mary continues to this day. We pray the rosary, and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, our precious Mother walks us through the Holy Mysteries of the gospels. She prays for us in like manner of other saints who have gone on to the next life to worship and enjoy God, the Holy Trinity.
For those of us who grew up without a mother, through God's power and love, our Mother, the ever virgin Mother of Christ, speaks not of herself, but always turns our hearts to worship and praise her Son, Christ, the ever complete manifestation of God in the flesh.
For those of us who have been hurt by divorce, for those of us who have been devistated by rejection from the ones consumed with human selfishness, for those of us who need to feel listened to and understood when people in this world don't seem to care, we have a vast glorious family to love us through the pains we go through in this valley of life.
The Trinity is One, and He alone is God through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Praise this magnificent God that He not only gave Himself to us through the revelation of Jesus, but that He also makes us part of His family. Just as Jesus was, and continues to be,God in human flesh, we find similarly not only power, love and grace through the Trinity, but we also find love, grace and understanding through our family of saints, of whom Mary, the mother of our Savior is Queen.
Remember that your precious family on earth is not all the family you have. Our mothers and fathers on earth are sacred to us, but God also provided for you an "extended family" that can be as real, near and dear to you as your earthly family. God prepared one human especially "full" of grace, so that through His Holy Spirit, through blessed Mary ever Virgin, God is also made manifest in human form for us to follow in service to Christ. ... Do you need a mother? Do you need understanding from men and women, your brothers and sisters? Oh, please know that you have it! Don't believe all you see is all there is! It is known what you do for the glory of Christ, even when no one on earth seems to understand. Let God love you. Also, in a very real way, let us hail our Holy Mother full of grace. Make all this your family, and may you be strong and feel loved for having done so. In the current mental health field there exists the highly recognized phenomenon referred to as "Family Systems Theory". Family Systems Theory proposes in part that family consists of numerous members working together as an individual "system". Each member of the system effects not only each other member, but also the family as a whole. (Like an automobile engine, where small pieces either enhance or disrupt the functioning of the greater good.) It is upon this basic principle that many of we psychotherapists practice our trade of assisting individuals and their families.
Perhaps in many respects this approach is a productive way to examine human behavior. Yet, I wish to relate here that for Christians who are loyal, practicing Catholics, the approach of "Family Systems Theory" is sorely limited. If the approach is not limited in principle, it is certainly limited in scope. The reason is for the committed Catholic, one's family is absolutely "not" limited to one's father, mother, brother or sister. Not even limited to cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents or an entire block in a community! Deeply, in a practical way, a practicing Catholic grasps the concept of family far beyond the mere relationships of family seen with physical eyes.