At The School Of The Holy Family!

 (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 expressed in the dynamics of love and togetherness. And that is what other families are called to appropriate.

          The Holy Family is at the centre of our reflection today. And we cannot but affirm that 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 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 yet a family with trials. We can remember vividly well how sin affected family life in the first pages of the Book of Genesis. After eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:16-17) great tension disrupted the spousal relationship between Adam and Eve. Not too long after that, the sons of Adam and Eve entered in a dispute that ended in the murder of Abel (Gen. 4:1-16). Sin wounded greatly the life of the family. Indeed, Jesus came to heal the wounds caused by sin, including that of the family. As such, God the Father sent his Son among us, and in doing that, He entrusted Him to a father and a mother. And that is the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The Holy Family teaches us how to remain calm in the midst of all kinds of existential storms.

          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.

          The 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. Again, because the Holy Family despite all odds remains the paradigm for the Christian family life. Likewise, Christian families 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!         

          We remember the uncommon circumstances that surrounded Jesus’ conception. We cannot but remember how Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit (Lk.1:35), without the knowledge of Joseph. We remember how Joseph decided to pack her belongings and ready to drop her (Mt. 1:18-19), before the angel came and made him changed his mind (Mt. 1:20). Indeed, we cannot but remember Mary’s and Joseph’s plan that was abruptly changed by the divine plan, and the challenges that surrounded his birth: no place in the inn, he was born in a manger, the trials and insecurity in Bethlehem (Lk. 2:8b; Mt. 2:13-14). Afterwards Joseph received another message to run away with his wife and son to Egypt. Not only that, Mary and Joseph even suffered the distress of not knowing the where-about of their twelve year old son (Cf. Lk. 2:48). Before Jesus began his public ministry nothing again was said about Joseph, we may well presume that he died, here the Holy Family must have suffered the pain of bereavement and separation through death. Jesus in his public ministry faced many oppositions and threats of death. No one could imagine what Mary passed through at the foot of her son’s cross. 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, she invited the disciples to listen to Jesus (cf. Jn. 2:5), 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. First, 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. Second, 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).

         In the light of today’s Feast, in our present day society there are some situations and human conditions that tend to disintegrate the nucleus of the family and as such require a good dose of reflection. Today we talk about separated parents or broken marriages, many a times their children suffer because of the conflicts of the parents, divorced and remarried parents with children, adoption of a child by a single, be it man or woman, adoption of children by homosexual or lesbian couples and same sex marriage etc. These are complex and difficult situations that cannot but make us reflect over and over again. In the realization of the divine plan of God, He needed a father and a mother for His divine Son. Just like in the case of Joseph and Mary, in the education of children, the father and the mother have their roles. This tells us the importance and the necessity of the figure of a father and a mother in the human family. Let us not forget that it is the natural right of children to have parents: father and mother. This original initiative of God should propel us today to make some reconsiderations in our clamour for freedom.

          As we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we need to appropriate the virtues emanating not only from the Holy Family but also from the readings of this day into the reality of our different families. In our society today, where the institution of marriage and family is under serious attack, we need to swim against the currents of this contemporary world that are inimical to the wellbeing of the family. We need to identify these anti-values that are served at the supermarket of our present society and in the means of social communication, ranging from the rebellion of the children, quarrels and confrontations between husband and wife, little or no interest on the children by the parents and excessive interest on the children by some possessive parents to the abandonment of the children by the parents and that of the parents by the children. Conscious of all this, we need to endeavour to construct a family founded on the family values present in today’s liturgy of the word: respect and appreciation, obedience and mutual help, concern and care, prudence and the search for family stability, goodness and reciprocal love. We need to incarnate these values in our families and society today in order to ward of the anti-values that are fast destroying the concept and the commitment of the Christian family. Today we need to insist on the importance of responsible parenthood; else we end up raising drug addicts, delinquents, violent and children with deviated sexual drives because of the absence or irresponsibility of the parents. Some of the challenges facing families today, is that there is no enough time to be together and to pray together. In all we cannot but affirm that the true model of the Christian family is the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph: the Holy Family.

          Above all else however, three points stand out today: ●The feast of the Holy family as a reminder to all families to emulate their faithfulness to God and to each other. ●It reminds us of 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 centre 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. As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, let us turn our marriages, families and homes from broken marriages, families and homes to united marriages, families and homes. As the Holy Family survived all their crises and storms through love of each other and faith in God, let us earnestly pray during this Mass that our families torn apart by the presages of hatred, separation and selfishness will conquer these storms through love for each other and faith in God. Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)