HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH
31 DECEMBER 2023
The
readings from the Book of Genesis and the Letter to the Hebrews help us to
understand the dynamics of an authentic faith.
Abram heard God’s call and believed that God would settle him and his
family in a new home. Once established
in the land, he continued to trust that God would provide Sarah and him with
children, even in their advanced in age.
When God finally blessed them with Isaac, their child, Abraham’s faith
was tested. He obeyed God’s command to sacrifice
his only son. Abraham was rewarded with
more children than sand on the shore of the sea or the stars in the sky (one of
the Covenants in the center aisle).
Many
centuries later, two of Abraham’s children come to the temple in Jerusalem to express
their belief in God and dedicate their newborn son. Joseph and Mary could have ignored the law, given
the circumstances of their son’s birth. They
can only afford a pair of turtledoves, unlike most residents of Jerusalem who
could bring a lamb for the sacrifice.
They offer their humble sacrifice to express their trust that the Lord
would remain with them, no matter what might happen to them. They meet Simeon, who recognizes their child
as the promised messiah for whom he had waited all his life. Along with the pious old woman Anna, Simeon
blesses them but warns them of the pain that will come with their son’s
mission. Their son would obey the will
of his Father to go to the sacrifice of the cross to express his total gift of love.
Saint Luke
tells us that Anna is an old widow who has spent her entire life praying in the
temple. That prayer has opened her eyes
to see the truth about this child. Saint
Luke does not specify the age of Simeon, even though we often presume that he
is an old man. Whatever his age, his
encounter with the child allows him to leave the temple in peace. This encounter changes his life, much like so
many other people who will be changed by their encounters with Jesus Christ as
he grows in faith, trust, and obedience as an adult.
We too have
encountered the newborn Christ in this Christmas Season. Like Simeon, we have held him in our hands or
on our tongues when we have received his real presence in Holy Communion. Like Anna, we can give thanks to the Father
for the gift of his only begotten Son.
Like Abraham and Sarah, we can walk away from this Christmas Season with
renewed trust that God will continue to be present in our families.
Our
families come in all kinds of sizes and makeups. Today’s Feast does not invite us to compare
our families with the Holy Family. In
fact, we can never compete with a father who obeys messages in dreams, with a
mother who never sinned, and with a child who is God. When I was a child, this feast of the Holy
Family always depressed me, because our priests insisted that we must behave
like the Holy Family. As I rode home in
the back seat of the car, fighting with my brother and sister, I knew there was
no way that we could compete with that family.
The Feast of the Holy Family
invites us to a greater message – to believe in the presence of the Lord, no
matter what our family looks like. If
you are a single person, know that Jesus himself embraced that vocation. If you live in a family torn apart by divorce
or separation, trust that the Lord will not abandon you, just as Abraham and
Sarah trusted that the Lord would keep his promise in their new land. If your family is experiencing a painful test
of any kind, remain confident that you can survive it, as Abraham did. No matter what difficulties our families may
experience, we are called as a family bound together by baptism to trust that
the Lord is present and will remain with us in thick or thin. Jesus Christ has taken on human flesh and
dwells in our midst. That is what makes
us and our families holy.
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