Feast of the Holy Family

12-27-2020Weekly Reflection

The first reading is a commentary of Ex. 20:12: Honor your Father and your mother, that you may have a long life. At this time, the Jews do not know yet much about life hereafter; a long life for a Jew was the highest honor. Anyone who honors a parent atones for sins. A truth based on the belief; that it also atones for many other sins. Sirach also asks children to love their parents, especially when they grow old when their health starts to fail.

St. Paul recognizes that in baptism, one takes off the old clothes and puts on new clothing, the symbol of being a chosen one, holy and beloved. They shall put on heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, patience: Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Love keeps all other clothes, all other virtues in place so that he who loves; practices all virtues. (Rom. 13:89)

Three rites after the birth of the Baby Jesus. (1) Jesus was circumcised and given a name a week after His birth (not mentioned in the Gospel today). (2) Forty days after giving birth, Mary performed the ritual of purification according to Lev. 12:58 in the Temple at the Nicanor gate on the east side of the court for women. (3) Every firstborn son is bought free in recognition of the gracious power of God in giving human life, with five shekels. The redemption can take place before any priest anywhere in Palestine, and only by the father.

The Church proposes the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus as the model of all family and societal life. In the first reading: Honor your father and mother, especially in their old age. Bear with one another and forgive and love one another: husband, wife, parents, and children. As the child Jesus grew in a family, it would be good if every child does.

Jesus, like all of us, was born of a human mother and grew up in a human family. Since the beginning of the Church, the Holy Family is the model of every family life. This family was small, composed of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. For a Jew, the firstborn male was special, in a way, a gift from God. The presence of Joseph is essential. It assured that Mary was not a single parent; she was a married woman. And that marriage is the fundamental foundation of family life.

People sometimes make an excuse that because the family of Jesus includes the holiest man and woman who ever lived, there is a tendency to distance the experience of family life from them. They think that the Holy Family is not the same as a regular family, with all its ups and down and the challenges that go within a family. In short, although they are the Holy Family, they lived a regular life. Holiness is the daily dynamic of the family work, play, and prayer. God gives us opportunities and challenges to grow in love and love is the essence of holiness. It comes from the heart of God, leads us to God, and reveals the plan of God in the world.

Joseph and Mary found joy seeing Jesus grew up in their company. It was their joy to watch the physical and spiritual deepening of Jesus, just as it should be the joy of every parent also. He grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and God’s favor rested on Him. (Lk. 2:40) They witnessed the mystery of God and grew in understanding the ways of God for the happiness of man. This happiness is in the simplicity of life, where daily work and prayer bind the family, and where Jesus Christ reigns in the family. The simple joy of their family life is the blueprint for every Christian family life.