Jesuit Priest and Author, Fr. John Kavanaugh offers this wonderful statement as to what this season is all about: “The heart of Christianity is a transformation of the ordinary, not a flight from it.”
Understanding the Feast of the Holy Family begins with a knowledge that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the prophets, chose to enter space and time, because deeply concerned about and profoundly moved by our condition. He promised us generations as countless as the stars, a land to call our own, and a blessing on all the nations of the earth. He freed us from our bondage, and guided us to a place to call home, no longer slaves, so that we would be free to live together as a people, a nation, a community and a family!
This continues in the Christmas narratives, as ordinary people like shepherds and travelers are the messengers of God, not just angels, and certainly not the power-brokers of nations... Elizabeth found God in her cousin, Mary, and in her old age gave birth to a son of her own, John the Baptist, [and] Joseph coping with the demands of Caesar, encountered God in a dream, safely leading his family home.
So you see, like he did at creation, and time and time again afterwards, our God has intervened to show us his love for his people. On yet another Christmas Morning, he himself came to walk in our midst... Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh, born in Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary… The Holy Family that we celebrate here today!
Now, the Holy Family is easier to honor, than to imitate. On the face of it, and with our sometimes flawed attempts and efforts, trying to be parents and children, like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph seems utterly just too unique to model. In fact, it’s difficult not to think of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as living in a perfectly peaceful life, in holy isolation... But we forget two things. First, no family in first-century Palestine lived disconnected from their network of relatives, and second, that life was lived as part of the larger family of Israel's covenant life with God.
That’s a Covenant as in the Covenant with Abraham, Sarah, and their decedents (as many as the stars in the sky.) The Israelite family life was considered an expression of covenant life.
What does that mean? While a contract is an exchange of goods and services, a convent is an exchange of persons, where an oath is sworn, and people are changed. Marriage is that kind of covenant relationship, and the community around us is family, living with the same sort of commitment. As God told Abraham, I will be your God and Father, and you shall be my children, many of us have vowed the same as we looked into the eyes of the new life of our own child... “Hey there... I’m your Daddy. You’re gonna be the best kid ever!” Suddenly, this amazing network of family kicks in... Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, well intended neighbors... Everybody begins to offer their help, their prayers and their opinions of course. The Village is all in, and yes... your business is their business, your celebration is their celebration, your struggle is their struggle... Your family is part of The Family!
Which adds this very important dynamic that we can all take to heart. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, like all the families in the land of Israel, had a sense that their relationships with one another were expressions of their relationship with God as creator and redeemer. With all of their neighbors, they knew that it takes a covenant community, a true exchange of persons, to be a family, and that their lives were a gift from God to be lived out in service of God.
With that said, maybe we’re not too far removed from being like the Holy Family. We too are called be a family within our own covenant community. We too are called to live out our relationships with one another as expression of our relationship with our God! But I’m not sure that trying to be like the perfect family is the sole purpose for today’s Feast. Yes, as Christians, we are called to be like Christ. And as disciples, we do recognize the Blessed Mother as our pure example of prayer and commitment. And like Joseph, we too need to dedicate ourselves to raising the Lord of our heart, to be a crucial part of the world around us...
But first and foremost this day, we need to reconnect with the covenant, the absolute Truth of our own existence... WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF A GOD WHO LOVES US, AND WILL NEVER ABANDON US!
Sirach reminds us that God sets parents in honor over their children; their authority he confirms over their sons and daughters.
From Paul comes the advice that all families and covenant communities need to follow: We need to put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. And over all of these things we need to put on love, and let the peace of Christ control our hearts!
In Matthew’s Christmas Narrative: We see a focus on Joseph, taking care of his home and family, outwardly expressing the Covenant of the Lord, a complete trust that we will live on, with land and a blessing over our nation, all starting right here with you and your family...
So RISE and BE a Holy Family...
Understanding the Feast of the Holy Family begins with a knowledge that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the prophets, chose to enter space and time, because deeply concerned about and profoundly moved by our condition. He promised us generations as countless as the stars, a land to call our own, and a blessing on all the nations of the earth. He freed us from our bondage, and guided us to a place to call home, no longer slaves, so that we would be free to live together as a people, a nation, a community and a family!
This continues in the Christmas narratives, as ordinary people like shepherds and travelers are the messengers of God, not just angels, and certainly not the power-brokers of nations... Elizabeth found God in her cousin, Mary, and in her old age gave birth to a son of her own, John the Baptist, [and] Joseph coping with the demands of Caesar, encountered God in a dream, safely leading his family home.
So you see, like he did at creation, and time and time again afterwards, our God has intervened to show us his love for his people. On yet another Christmas Morning, he himself came to walk in our midst... Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh, born in Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary… The Holy Family that we celebrate here today!
Now, the Holy Family is easier to honor, than to imitate. On the face of it, and with our sometimes flawed attempts and efforts, trying to be parents and children, like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph seems utterly just too unique to model. In fact, it’s difficult not to think of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as living in a perfectly peaceful life, in holy isolation... But we forget two things. First, no family in first-century Palestine lived disconnected from their network of relatives, and second, that life was lived as part of the larger family of Israel's covenant life with God.
That’s a Covenant as in the Covenant with Abraham, Sarah, and their decedents (as many as the stars in the sky.) The Israelite family life was considered an expression of covenant life.
What does that mean? While a contract is an exchange of goods and services, a convent is an exchange of persons, where an oath is sworn, and people are changed. Marriage is that kind of covenant relationship, and the community around us is family, living with the same sort of commitment. As God told Abraham, I will be your God and Father, and you shall be my children, many of us have vowed the same as we looked into the eyes of the new life of our own child... “Hey there... I’m your Daddy. You’re gonna be the best kid ever!” Suddenly, this amazing network of family kicks in... Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, well intended neighbors... Everybody begins to offer their help, their prayers and their opinions of course. The Village is all in, and yes... your business is their business, your celebration is their celebration, your struggle is their struggle... Your family is part of The Family!
Which adds this very important dynamic that we can all take to heart. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, like all the families in the land of Israel, had a sense that their relationships with one another were expressions of their relationship with God as creator and redeemer. With all of their neighbors, they knew that it takes a covenant community, a true exchange of persons, to be a family, and that their lives were a gift from God to be lived out in service of God.
With that said, maybe we’re not too far removed from being like the Holy Family. We too are called be a family within our own covenant community. We too are called to live out our relationships with one another as expression of our relationship with our God! But I’m not sure that trying to be like the perfect family is the sole purpose for today’s Feast. Yes, as Christians, we are called to be like Christ. And as disciples, we do recognize the Blessed Mother as our pure example of prayer and commitment. And like Joseph, we too need to dedicate ourselves to raising the Lord of our heart, to be a crucial part of the world around us...
But first and foremost this day, we need to reconnect with the covenant, the absolute Truth of our own existence... WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF A GOD WHO LOVES US, AND WILL NEVER ABANDON US!
Sirach reminds us that God sets parents in honor over their children; their authority he confirms over their sons and daughters.
From Paul comes the advice that all families and covenant communities need to follow: We need to put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. And over all of these things we need to put on love, and let the peace of Christ control our hearts!
In Matthew’s Christmas Narrative: We see a focus on Joseph, taking care of his home and family, outwardly expressing the Covenant of the Lord, a complete trust that we will live on, with land and a blessing over our nation, all starting right here with you and your family...
So RISE and BE a Holy Family...
- Parents, take your children...
- Children, take your friends and neighbors...
- St. John’s, take us long with you as you head back to work and school...
- Leave a few things behind and don’t worry as you go forth with your family, to a new place in your faith journey this coming year. Make it your home, share the love of God, and put on that love, that is, wear your faith proudly and live it out loudly, being the children of God that you are. called to live as family, in the midst of other families, so as to be ONE FAMILY OF GOD!
- Be like Mary and say Yes to God’s Plan with HUMILITY & TRUST
- Be like Joseph and dream dreams and trust the guidance of Angels!
- Be a child of God, ready to BRING CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING and LOVING GOD, INTO OUR WORLD! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
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