Feast of the Holy Family - To live by faith

". . . and the favor of God was upon him." 

Sir 3: 2-6, 12-14

He 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19

Lk  2: 22-40

The Word for Sunday: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/123117.cfm

 A very popular book written by author Robert Fulghum was entitled: All I Really need to know I learned in Kindergarten. It was popular because everyone knew that those earliest years of life teach us the basics upon which everything else is based.  Among the many things we learn are the following:

1. Share everything.

2. Play fair.

3. Don't hit people.

4. Put things back where you found them.

5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.

6. Don't take things that aren't yours.

7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.

8. Wash your hands before you eat.

9. Flush.

10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

12. Take a nap every afternoon.

13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

If we think about it, there is great wisdom in these fundamental lessons. Today’s Feast of the Holy Family is a lesson for us not only in the basics but likewise in the call to holiness that we all must pursue.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph often raises eyebrows to some degree.  Who among all the families we know could ever reach the level of this famed Biblical family in ancient Nazareth?  With the Immaculate Conception as Mother, the Son of God as the child, and the ever patient and faithful St. Joseph as the Father, of course they were holy! Some may wonder not about the importance of this unique family unit in salvation history but how could they be a model for all other more "normal" family relationships?  

While, it is a beautiful pause between Christmas and New Year's Day don't all other families fall short of this “Holy” Family?  What can be learned? Yet the very concept of becoming holy is bottom line what this feast is all about.  But wouldn’t that mean that I pray all day and walk around with my hands folded?  Does it mean that my family would never have a disagreement?  Yet, if we look more carefully at the center of this extraordinary family unity, we may come to understand what can and should be at the center of every family unit we know. 

True, on a merely graced level this family among all others was particularly protected yet still not without their challenges.  First is what both Mary and Joseph were asked to do.  How God so interrupted their lives and set those lives on a new course.  Both Mary and Joseph felt fear and insecurity, questioned this divine plan so strangely revealed to them, took a risk in saying "Yes" to God's request, had to flee in fear for their lives and that of Mary's son as Herod sent troops to Bethlehem to kill him, subjected themselves to social ridicule and family shunning and risked their own personal reputations as Mary found with child before wedding Joseph and Joseph taking Mary and her child as his own, feared for the safety of Jesus as he was lost in the Temple.  Despite their graced existence life did not spare them a share of suffering and what many parents often find themselves having to endure challenges in marriage and family life.  It's all in the Christmas story so you may want to re-read both versions in Matthew 1: 19 - 25; 2: 1- 23 and Luke 2. 

Once Jesus was born, life did not become easier, though we can assume their life in Nazareth must have settled in to some sort of safe Jewish existence yet, like all of their time, having to make due with so little resources and the luxuries we take for granted today. By comparison, their lives were primitive compared to our own.

But the common glue that held them together was that their existence was always seen in relationship to a higher purpose and meaning.  That glue for them was seen in relationship to their obedience to God’s will.  For this family, as for all families, God and the pursuit of living out the Gospel as we know it must have a place in our lives that is more than just an afterthought, an occasional experience, and a secondary choice in relationship to everything else that busy families do today.

If we ever think that this particular family never had a reason to just give up, become discouraged, stand there in confusion, doubt or question the events of their lives we would be greatly disappointed. Above all life brought to them both great challenges and questions. The Scriptures share much about Mary's own joy and anguish as the public ministry of Jesus began. In today’s Gospel itself we hear Simeon’s prediction to Mary that: “. . . and you yourself a sword will pierce . . .” As those words were spoken we can only imagine what may have been in the mind of Mary. 

When Jesus was captured and eventually murdered right before her eyes, it is hard to imagine her maternal pain and sorrow - her own passion was a share in the suffering of Jesus, as was the glory of the Resurrection. 

And of course Joseph’s series of dreams reassuring him to take Mary as his wife, warning him to escape quickly to Egypt since King Herod had murderous desires for Mary’s child, then to return to Jerusalem and eventually Nazareth only when safe and their shared grief at the loss of Jesus in Jerusalem when he was twelve years old.  Though we may idealize this family, it was their faithfulness to God’s will, their unquestioning trust in him and in each other that held them together with faith as their center that made them holy.

The lesson is clear for any family unit.  The reality is that family life today and by association marriage itself is experiencing challenges unheard of before.  With marriage itself being questioned, the effects easily trickle down to relationships within the family itself.  The lessons are timeless though.  If the parents are strong and faithful the chances of the children becoming so are many times greater than if they were not.  If the Church has a consistent and regular place in the life of the family so will the children benefit.  Children follow the lead of the parents.  Boys look to their fathers for an example and girls to their mothers.  If they see parents who love and respect each other, if they know that discipline will be firm, fair, and consistent it all comes together in an excellent formula for holiness.  If God is an afterthought, an occasional experience, and if the Church is not present actively, the Christian family will grow weaker. 

Heroic single parents today indeed deserve our love and support as they struggle to remain faithful and do what they feel is right and know is right for their children.  Yet, with the place of a faith community as a major priority in their lives, it can go a long way to assisting them in their call to holiness as well. It is sad to see that when the Church can be most a help some parents may fall away due to personal issues.  Yet, if we remain a community of welcome we can indeed become what Pope Francis has termed a “field hospital.”  A place to find health in the midst of what may seem the battle ground of life. 

May we all be holy as Joseph, Mary and Jesus were holy and may our marriages and families, so questioned and challenged in our day, find healing.  May Christ and his Church become a regular home for all homes. May all married couples, regardless of age or years, be blessed with the grace of fidelity and seek God's will for them daily.

Bring those you refresh with this heavenly Sacrament,

most merciful Father,

to imitate constantly the example of the Holy Family, 

so that, after the trials of this world,

we may share their company for ever.

Through Christ our Lord. 

(Feast: Prayer after Communion)