During this Octave between Christmas and the Epiphany, we
celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. Over
the last several weeks, we have most certainly seen many familiar illustrations
of the Holy Family. We’ve seen Jesus,
Mary and Joseph on the many Christmas cards given to us by family and friends. We’ve
seen the Holy family in our nativity scenes at home and in church. And perhaps
you were fortunate enough to see them also in the actions of the children at
our Christmas pageant. While each
depiction tells us the same essential story, the question that I asked myself (and
I throw out to you) is whether these familiar scenes represent the complete
story of how we should see the Holy Family. Have we raised these familiar
Nativity scenes to such heights that they have become, what we may call, “other
worldly”, or just symbols of devotion.
Or can they be an effective influence and guide to our understanding of
holiness as it relates to our own families in 2019.
This weekend, the Church puts before us this great Feast
Day of the Holy Family, not primary as a symbol of devotion, but as a model of
faith. This model of faith of the
original Holy Family is there to inspire and to guide us in the work that we
must do within our own family on its journey towards wholeness and New Life.
We call Jesus, Mary and Joseph “the Holy Family”, but
that does not mean, for a moment, that they did not have problems. Just as we
in our family circumstances have to face many problems, and work at ways of
overcoming them, so also the Holy Family had to face and deal with the many
problems that came there way as well.
We only have to read the scriptures to see the many
difficulties they experienced, most of them greater than our own. And we all
know the reasons for this. They lived
during a time of great persecution, when their land was occupied and controlled
by foreign powers, and governed by corrupt rulers. They had none of the freedoms
that we currently have in our own lives. No social programs existed to help
them in times of need. From Matthew, we hear the story the Holy Family having
to flee to Egypt as refugees because Jesus’ life was in danger due to the
corruption of King Herod. So they were forced to leave the comfort of their
home and land in much of the same way as refugees today must leave their war-torn
countries to find safety in other places.
I understand that the distance from Bethlehem to the borders of Egypt is
about 430 kilometers. To avoid the dangers imposed by Herod, they had to travel
by donkey and on foot, which would have taken them many weeks. It’s hard to imagine the hardships they must
have experienced making this trip under such difficult circumstances.
What kept the Holy Family together, what kept them sane
through these trials is the same thing that keeps us together during our own
trials, even though they may be different in nature. It was the love they had for each other. It was the guidance and trust they had in the
God of their ancestors. Who else could did
they have to turn too? Who else could
they reach out to for guidance and comfort?
They found in God, their own source of inner strength, a foundational rock
on which they could build their lives. It was to this personal God they could pray
and consult in the decisions they had to make.
And when you think about it, during our own times of
uncertainty, during our own times of confusion, during those times when we are
facing our own storms, who do we have to reach out to? When we reach out to each other, when we
reach out to God, then we model the Holy family; we become that holy family. We discover in Christ our own foundational rock.
I believe at times we elevate the image of the Holy
family to that “other worldly” plane because of the ways that we hear that God interacted
with them. After all, Mary was visited
by an angel who asked her to conceive a son. And Joseph received his directions
from God through dreams. How often has
this happened to us?
But the holiness we see in them as a family does not come
from how God communicated to them, but from how they responded; how they were
willing to step beyond their own fear, their own comfort and security to
embrace the will of God. Mary’s own
great act of faith becomes the model that we are inspired to use in our own
lives: “With God, all things are possible. Let it be done to me in accordance
with your will. ” And Joseph’s willingness to listen through
prayer, and to follow the course laid out for him, despite the inconvenience
and risk to himself can become our own way of seeking guidance.
In our second reading of our mass today, St. Paul is
speaking to the Colossians about holiness.
He is not talking about the Holy family but he is using them as a model of
faith for the Colossian to follow. He says: “As
God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness and patience.
Bear with one another. If anyone has a complaint against another,
forgive each other. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all, clothe yourselves with love.” These are the attributes we see in the Holy
Family. These are the attributes we can
see and practice in our own families as well.
And as St. Paul expresses to the Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, to teach and admonish each other in all wisdom, but with gratitude in
your hearts because you are called to be one body, one community.”
As we celebrate this Feast Day of the Holy Family, let us
remind each other that faith and family is the vehicle for our journey that
leads to wholeness and new life with Christ: In summary, they must include two
things: the love we have for each other, and of equal or greater importance,
the love that we each have for God.
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