I'm sure you have all heard at one time or another the phrase, “There is no 'I' in 'Team'”. The phrase is of course not just about how to spell the word “team” but more importantly about how members of a team must learn to work together in order for that team to succeed. If an individual within a team is only interested gaining a name for himself or herself (only looking out for “Number One”), not only will the team very likely fall short of it's goal, but so will that individual. Teams are made up of individuals and each individual has his or her own individual talents and personalities that add to the mix of the team, but unless those individuals can learn to let those individual talents and personalities work together, unless they can put aside selfish ambition in favor of the success of others, that talent won't get them anywhere.
The movie “Miracle” tells the story of Herb Brooks leading the US Men's Hockey team to a gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The movie focuses a lot on how Brooks took some of the best players in college hockey at the time and made them into a team. In the first half of the movie, the team is not doing well at all. In fact, they are not even acting like a team. There is competition between the players of whose college team is the best. Whenever Brooks asks them what team they play for, they answer with their individual college teams. They don't even consider themselves to be on the same team.
The team is able to pull off a tie against the Norwegian National team, but Brooks is unimpressed. He has the team do sprints up and down the ice. In a inspirational part of the movie, he yells, “You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone.” He says several other lines in this scene as well, all talking about the need to work as a team, and not as a group of individuals hoping for success. Brooks keeps yelling “Again” and the assistant coach blows a whistle and the team sprints over and over. Finally, when the players are so exhausted that they can barely stand up, one player calls out his name and where he is from. Brooks asks, “Who do you play for?” Between gasps for breath, the player says, “I play for the United States of America”. Brooks simply says, “That's all, gentlemen”, and then leaves.
This idea of working for more than just our own individual, selfish goals can be applied to many other parts of our lives than just sports teams. Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. Like a team, a family is made up of individuals, each with their own personality; each with their own unique gifts and ways of looking at things that contribute to the overall make up of that family. But if each member of a family cared only about their own wants and desires and cared little for the needs of the overall family, that family is going to fall apart. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is a great example of a family that cares about each other, rather than individual desires. Their example can help us in our families to do the same.
The Gospel tells the story of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt. St. Joseph leads his family into Egypt for protection and then to Nazareth where they are able to settle down and begin their life together as a family. It is important for us to understand, however, that there would not be a Holy Family had not each individual member of that family agreed to put aside their own desires in favor of the family's needs and the will of God the Father. St. Joseph at first wanted to avoid any trouble by simply divorcing Mary quietly. Even after Mary gave birth, he certainly had the free will to leave whenever he wanted. The temptation to just do his own thing and avoid all the problems connected with having a pregnant wife and a child who has already been given a death sentence by the king, must have crossed his mind at some point. But he remains a faithful father and husband. Neither did Mary have to say yes to Gabriel's message. She could have opted for a more simple life as a carpenter's wife in Nazareth. Yet she says yes to the Father's will. Jesus, as the Son of God, understood in a unique way, the Father's plan and His will for Him, so it is not too surprising that He agreed to God's will, but He definitely did not have to come to earth this way. He didn't have to be born or be raised in a family or be obedient to parents. He did this to humble Himself, become one of us, and to help teach us what it means to be a part of a family.
The first and second readings also teach about families and what we are called to do for our fellow family members. The first reading from Sirach talks about how each member has a job to do, talking about a father over his children and a mother's authority over her sons. Sometimes children complain about there being too many rules and how unfair it is that they are not in charge, but what the children hopefully understand eventually is that the authority given to the parents is to protect them and help to grow up into healthy adults. Children also have a role in obeying their parents, to honor and revere them. They will also take care of them when they are old.
The second reading from St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, talks about the love that members of a family have for each other; mirrored by the love that God has for the Jesus Christ and the love Jesus has for the Church. The last paragraph can sound contradictory to the rest of it. “Wives be subordinate to your husbands” and “Husbands love your wives”. St. Paul isn't giving an advantage or some sort of power to one spouse over the other. That word “subordinate” simply means to have respect and reverence towards. This is not being asked just of the wives, but of the husbands for their wives as well. Have love and respect for each other. Children are asked to have this for their parents as well.
What all this amounts to, is that we, as members of families, are called to love and respect each other. We are called to work as a team to help each other grow in holiness. We are not in this just for ourselves, but so that we can help each other enter into Heaven.
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