“Striving to Make Our Families Holy”
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph – a model for us – as we strive to make our own families – also holy.
We need families like Joseph’s and Mary's -- grounded in faith, sustained by love, nourished by tradition.
God Almighty, who created us in love, chose to come to us in a family setting. It was in this family setting that Jesus first experienced the presence of God. It was within family that Our Lord first knew the joy of being loved. It was in the family setting that Jesus learned His first lessons in how to love.
We heard in the Gospel: “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom…” within a family setting. It is within family life that new generation receive the precious gift of faith.
This raises the question for all Christian parents: How to provide a family environment that makes it possible for our children to grow in faith and to grow in wisdom? How to provide a family environment which encourages, uplifts, and supports one another. And the answer, of course, is to follow the example of the Holy Family; to become a holy family by loving one another in the radical new way of the Lord Jesus; to speak love to one another in the sense of “How can I help to bring out the best in you?”
Husbands, you're called to serve your wives. Wives, you're called to serve your husbands. Children, you're called to serve your parents. Parents, you're called to serve your children… Jesus said "I came not to be served but to serve."
As Christians, we are all called to serve. The first place we have to serve in - is at home.
So, let us ask ourselves: Are we in our family to serve them or to be served?
Holy families don’t just happen. They are something we all consciously create – that every member of the family create – by working together and persevering – even in tough times.
This last Sunday of the calendar year – as we prepare to face the New Year – it is a wonderful time to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family…an ideal time to ask ourselves: How is my own family doing? Is there peace at home? Is there understanding? Forgiveness? Love? Do we place God above all?
Our world desperately needs families - well-formed families whose children can grow and go on to form new, also well-formed, families… The family is the hope of our society. Unfortunately, it is being attacked in so many ways.
Side note: I would like to take this opportunity to extend invitation to couples, living together but not married, to consider getting married in the Church and to those who are married only civilly but not married in the Church, we invite you to have your marriage blessed by the Church. Take this as an invitation.
Getting married in the Church, inviting Christ to your wedding is a great way to start a family – a holy family. Let us help you.
From the first reading from prophet Sirach: “Children…honor and respect your parents… Take care of your parents when they are old. You see - children learn respect for their parents from the respect they see their parents give each other and the respect their parents have for their grandparents…
…There is truth in the statement that the way you treat your parents will be the way your children will treat you. So, remember that.
From our second reading – “Put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience… bear with one another and forgive one another…
These are practical - helpful - good advise – to be a happier functional family – But - the question is – are those enough to make us a Holy Family?.… because even non-faithful people or non-believers subscribe to these principles or “common sense” values… The atheists say “goodness without God is good enough…”… “so be good for goodness sake.” …. Unfortunately there is even a Christmas song with that that has that phrase – but no.
Unfortunately, even among the religious and the faithful – we hear people say: As a husband, I am OK compared to that guy I know…I am not such a bad parent compared to others… so – I am OK - or my family is OK compared to that family….
Comparing our families with other families - is NOT JUST, it is NOT WISE - Yet, many of us do this. "I wish my marriage was as happy as theirs. I wish my children were like theirs. I wish my husband is like her husband or I wish my wife is like his wife. I wish our family was as strong as theirs."
That is wrong because every family is a unique relationship of unique individuals…. No two families are the same… and, every family has challenges which envious neighbors usually do not see. We do not really know everything that happens inside other people’s homes… once they close their doors.
If we want to compare ourselves as individuals and as a family – let us look at the Holy Family.
You might think: “Jesus is God, Mary was born without original sin, and Joseph had to be a saint to be able to deal with everything that happened. How can we possibly be like them?”
We forget that the three of them, including Jesus, were just as human as we are. Theirs was a real family who experienced many of the same challenges each of us experience. At the beginning of their family life, there was talk of divorce when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant even before they lived together. Joseph must have felt so terrible when he had to bring his wife to a stable to have the child. After Jesus’ birth, they had to escape from Herod’s murderous intention, so they lived in a foreign country, Egypt, away from family.
When Jesus was twelve, His parents searched for him everywhere for three days. You see, just like any family – they had their share of struggles and occasional tensions and misunderstandings.
Still, the Holy Family made it through the difficulties of their family life – How? - They had great faith and obedience to God’s will. God was at the center of their family life.
What makes them holy - Jesus, Mary and Joseph – loved each other – out of obedience to God the Father… they all – each one and as a family - trusted the Heavenly Father – They placed their love for each other – for their neighbors – within the wider, broader and deeper context of their love for God the Father… within the framework of their love of God.
Meaning - If we love God first, then we can love our families more than we can ever love them. We can forgive them more than we can ever possibly forgive them - because it is now the love of God that loves them. It is now the love of God that forgives them. That makes us holy.
As we continue our Eucharistic celebration, let us pray to the Holy Family - of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, that all our families be Holy Families.
Let us pray especially for those families who have problems of any kind…
Let us pray especially pray for families who are mourning because this is their first Christmas without the presence of someone they dearly loved who died this past year.
Grace-filled Holy Covid19-free New Year to Everyone!!!
God bless…
(Based on Sirach 3:2-6,12-14 Colossians 3:12-21 Luke 2:22-40)
