(Homily for the Feast of the Holy
Family, Yr. B)
There
is no gainsaying the fact that Christmas is a family time. For it is a time of
re-union of families for the celebration of the Birth of Christ. It is fitting therefore,
that during this family time yearly we reflect on the Holy Family of Nazareth:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We call it “the Holy Family” because it is the most
holy of Families: Mary was immaculately conceived and was sinless, Joseph was
her chaste spouse, and Jesus was the Son of God. Not only that, but also
because they were faithful to God and to each other. Today we
celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, and indeed the event of Christmas in se
is a feast of God’s entrance to the human family. In his project of salvation
of mankind God thought it wise to begin the decisive phase from and within the
context of family. Thus, he sent his Son to be a member of the family of Joseph
and Mary. A closer glance at the readings of toady readily suggests that the
pivot around which revolves the message of this day is faithfulness, family
faithfulness, expressed in the dynamics
of love and togetherness. And that is what other families are called to
appropriate.
The first reading (Gen. 15:1-6; 21:1-3) presents the
encounter between Abram and the Lord in a vision. Therein, the Lord invited
Abram: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great”.
But in turn, in this seemingly dialogue Abram asked God what He will give him,
and thus reminded God of his childlessness. Even upon the Lord’s invitation to
him not to fear, Abram rather expressed his fears to the Lord, for he has no
offspring as heir. He fears that Eliezer of Damascus will be his heir. But God
assured him, that Eliezer will not be his heir. Afterwards, we see what I would
like to call the central point of this passage that is when God invited Abram:
“Look towards heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…So
shall your descendants be”. At this point, God
reminded Abram that he is the Creator, he is that great Designer. Little
wonder, He invited him at the beginning to fear not. The reference to the heavens and the stars is a reminder to Abram that
he who created all these, is able to give you offspring any time, and He
actually did. And even without, seeing this realized, Abram believed God,
he believed in what God can do. Indeed, “he believed the Lord; and he reckoned
it to him as righteousness”. Above all, God really fulfilled his words for
Sarah conceived and bore Abram a son at old age. In this passage therefore, one thing that stands out is the
faithfulness of Abram.
This passage of the gospel (Lk. 2:22-40) throws light on the
growth and maturity of Jesus, and the fact that he was filled and endowed with
wisdom. Here we see that wonderful scene of the encounter between Jesus and
Simeon, “the Nunc Dimitis”, and secondly the encounter with Anna.
However, our interest today is not going to be focused more on the encounters
between Jesus and Simeon, Jesus and Anna, rather on the growth and development
of the Child of Bethlehem (Jesus) within the ambience of the Holy family. Be
that as it may, we are going to make three considerations:
►First points to
the fact that Jesus is fully human, thus, he has to grow physically, mentally
and spiritually. Though we call him perfect man, this does not allude to a
complete maturity from the outset, humanly speaking. Instead, Christ is perfect man in line with the
perfection that comes from each stage of the human development and growth, he
passed through.
►Second points
to the fact that this human development and growth to maturity, contextually
took place within the ambience of a human family. Even though, nothing much was
recorded about Jesus’ life in the Holy Family, in exception of the time they
visited the temple when Jesus was twelve. Biblically, there is a sort of
silence about the life of Jesus in the Holy Family. In all, the Holy Family
remains the divine context where Jesus was prepared for his saving mission. And
also because the Holy Family despite all odds remains the paradigm for all
Christian family life. Likewise, the Christian family should be a context
divinely set out for the physical and spiritual growth of every Christian
child.
►Third, this
passage presents Jesus in the context of a prophetic succession. For He (Jesus)
is the Last and the Greatest of the prophets. Not only that, but he transcends
them all, because he is the eschatological prophet.
As we celebrate the feast of the Holy
Family, it is the church’s intention to present the Holy Family as the pattern
of Christian family life. Though the readings we have today gave different
indications on how to realize it. Above all, the Gospel periscope from Luke
presents the Family in general as a place of development and growth to physical,
mental and spiritual maturity. Even though existentially speaking, the
situation and conditions that the Holy Family lived were somewhat uncommon. It
is a family sui generis! The Holy Family was not a smooth and problem free
family, rather it was a family with her numerous problems, misunderstandings
and internal conflicts, yet they remained faithful to each other. That is why
it could be suggested as a paradigm to our Christian families. The Holy Family
was a family with special grace but yet a family with trials. The Holy Family is the model for families because
despite their many trials, the family remained faithful and united
If we cursorily look back, we cannot
but remember how Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit (Lk.1:35), without the knowledge of Joseph; how Joseph decided to
pack her belongings and ready to drop her (Mt.
1:18-19), before the angel came and changed his mind (Mt. 1:20). What about their troubles, trials and insecurity in
Bethlehem (Lk. 2:8b; Mt. 2:13-14),
all those angels (Lk. 2:9.10), the
shepherds (Lk.2:8), the wise men (Mt. 2) with their stories that even
Mary didn’t understand? The gospel passage of today, indicated how poor they
were, to the extent that they were not able, to sacrifice the normal offering
of a Lamb at the occasion of the circumcision of their Son, rather they
presented the gifts of the poor: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (Lk.2:24; cf. Lev. 12:6-8).
Besides, we heard the rather unhappy
prophecy of Simeon, that a sword will pierce the heart of the Mother (Lk. 2:35). We cannot but remember
their flight to Egypt in the middle of the night (Mt. 2:14), with the cries of the murdered children in Bethlehem
everywhere. We recall how He (Jesus) ran away from them, and how they had to
search for him for three days, before he was found in the temple (Lk. 2:45-46). Remember what the mother
told him: “My child, why have you done this to us?” and his seemingly unhappy reply:
“why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s
house?” (Lk. 2:48.49). Behold, these
difficulties did not stop, even as He grew up, for we still recall that episode
when they heard about his preaching and miracles, how Mary and some members of
the family got scared, they went after him, to get him back home, thinking that
he had lost his mind (Mk. 3:21). We
cannot but remember the marriage event at Cana (Jn. 2), they didn’t seem to have understood each other (Jesus and
Mary).
Indeed, the Holy family was not an
easy Family, not even a very normal family, but they excelled in one thing, and
that is where we have to take them as model and paradigm for Christian families;
and that is the fact that despite all
these odds, they remained faithful to each other. The faithfulness of Joseph to Mary, even though not being the father of
the child. The faithfulness of Mary to
Jesus, when she heard about his arrest and condemnation, she went to
Jerusalem to be with him, she stood by him till death. Mary indeed is faithful
like a rock. And Jesus in turn remained faithful to the Mother even at the
point of death, for some of his last words were for Mary: “Mother, behold your
Son. Son, behold your mother” (Jn.19:26-27).
We are called therefore, as families, little churches to appropriate the
virtues of the Holy Family, especially that of faithfulness. We are called to be faithful like them!!!
The second reading (Heb. 11:8.11-12.17-19) from the letter
to the Hebrews took up once again the theme of Abraham’s faithfulness. Interestingly, the faithfulness of this
couple was brought to the fore. One, Abraham who obeyed God’s word and
invitation to go out to a place he does not know, his unshakeable faith in God when he readily offered Isaac, the
Child of the promise. Two, Sarah who conceived by and through faith, even when
she has passed the age. Their faithfulness to God hinges on the omnipotence of
God and undoubtedly on Abraham’s believe that God can raise men even from dead (Heb. 11:19). And of course on the
words of the psalmist that “the Lord remembers his covenant forever” (Ps.105:8).
Behold, three points stand out today:
●The feast of
the Holy family as a reminder to emulate their faithfulness to God and to each
other. ●And the entrance of Jesus to the human Family, for Jesus is one of us
and one with us today. The feast of the Holy Family reminds us of the
importance of welcoming Him as a member of our families, or even better as the
center of our family, as he was in the Holy family. ●As we have seen, the Holy
Family was battered by many trials, but what
kept the Holy Family together during these trials is love for each and God. One
of the greatest challenges facing families today, is that there is no enough
time to be together.
Oratio: As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family today, we pray that our
human families torn apart by the presages of hatred and violence may imbibe the
virtues of love, togetherness and faithfulness that distinguished the Holy
Family. Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu)
No comments:
Post a Comment