Sanctæ Familiæ Iesu, Mariæ, Ioseph

LESSON: The Mysteries of the Season

The liturgical season of Christmas, in its rather compact twenty-day time-frame, nevertheless, provides us with a copious number of sacred mysteries to contemplate. On Christmas Day itself, the three Masses give us various aspects of the Incarnation to ponder, the proclamation of the angels, the adoration of the shepherds, and the mystery of the Word made flesh.

Eight days later we reflect on Our Lord’s circumcision and the first shedding of His Precious Blood. From that very same Gospel, last Sunday we contemplated the Most Holy Name of our Lord, and on Epiphany, the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles.

Today on this last Sunday of the Christmas season we reflect on the mystery that consumed most of Our Lord’s time on earth and forms the bridge from his infancy to his adulthood, life in the Holy Family.

The Roman Martyrology is a collection of all saints and feast days of the Church, not just those of martyrs (as the name might suggest), and not just those in the general calendar, but all saints and all feast days. It is customarily read at the Office of Prime in the breviary. The entry for today’s feast says the following, “The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph; by which a most holy example is afforded to Christian families and apposite graces are implored.”

It’s clear then that today’s feast is given to us, not only to form that bridge between Our Lord’s infancy and his public life (which we will again begin to consider next week), but is given to us a source of reflection on what Christian family life ought to be. Let us then consider that “school of the Gospel” that was life in the Holy Family at Nazareth.

ILLUSTRATION: Paul VI’s Pilgrimage

Pope St. Paul VI is perhaps not the best loved pope among more traditional Catholics due to his role in the liturgical upheaval that followed the Second Vatican Council. He was however, despite his flaws, a great champion of Christian family life.

I’m sure we are all familiar with the work that often defines his papacy like no other, Humanæ Vitæ. The encyclical letter in which he recapitulates the Church’s perennial teaching on procreation (and if you’re not familiar with it, it is certainly worth reading).

He is also well known for his reflections on the Holy Family as a model for Christian family life, given at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Nazareth

While on pilgrimage to Nazareth, Pope Paul VI reflected, “Nazareth is a kind of school.… How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth!” He went on to explain that there are three key lessons to learn by reflecting on Christ’s childhood in Nazareth.

• First, he said we learn from its silence: “We need this wonderful state of mind,” he said, to combat the pressures and noise of the world.

• Second, he said that Nazareth serves as “a model of what the family should be … a community of love and sharing, beautiful for the problems it poses and the rewards it brings, in sum, the perfect setting for rearing children—and for this there is no substitute.”

• Finally, he said, “[I]n Nazareth, the home of a craftsman’s son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails.”

Christian parents are called on to model life in their own families after that of the Holy Family in Nazareth, by shaping homes in the example of silence, communal love, and discipline. In doing so they ensure that they are doing their part to establish a nurturing environment in which saints are made. Let us examine each of these areas and consider how we might apply them to family life.

APPLICATION: The Holy Family’s Example

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Silence

It is no surprise that Pope Paul VI mentions silence as his first reflection on the life of the Holy Family at Nazareth, for it is in silence that we are trained in prayer. It is also in interior silence that we contemplate and have communion with God. A “silent” interior life is one free of distraction: it is a life of constancy. The “noise” of the world disrupts and distracts us.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Silence

Archbishop Chaput once said, “We need to unplug a little from the network of noise that surrounds us. We need to create the room for a silence that we can fill with conversation—conversation with each other and with God.”

The time parents have to form and build virtue in children is short, and they must make the best of it.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Silence

As Pope Paul VI said,

The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God’s inner wisdom and the counsel of his true teachers. Nazareth can teach us the value of study and preparation, of meditation, of a well-ordered personal spiritual life, and of silent prayer that is known only to God.

Christian homes then, should be sanctuaries, hidden from the world. By fostering silence in the home, children are taught to avoid distraction, and thus they will be able to be more attuned to their faith.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Community of Love and Sharing

Pope Paul VI called Nazareth the “model of what the family should be.” He went on to say that building a “community of love and sharing” is crucial to teaching children the virtues. It is also necessary to form within them the raw material for selfless, loving relationships with God and with their future spouse and children.

Building communal love begins with each family member’s willingness to offer him or herself for the sake of another. Parents are called to be the first examples of self-giving. Family life should be ordered to the joyful service of others. Parents must also be prepared to protect the family. When something is perceived as a threat to the moral life of the family, it must be rooted out of the home.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Discipline

Mary and Joseph educated Jesus, and Joseph taught Him to work as a carpenter. We live in a very different time, and it is uncommon that both parents are able to teach their children by working with them throughout each day. These lessons about hard work and discipline are just as important and can be learned when parents simply make the effort to allow their children to help them in their daily tasks at home. By helping their parents, children learn the virtues of diligence, self-discipline, and responsibility. They also learn the value of work.

In addition to these other virtues, children learn obedience. Obedience to the parents’ will is a training exercise for obedience to the will of the Father. As Saint Luke tells us, after the finding of the Child Jesus in the temple, even Jesus himself “was obedient to them” and “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk. 2:51–52). Obedience fosters the virtue of humility, which is the foundation of all virtues, and which, with love, forms the core of holiness.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Discipline

The word discipline comes from the Latin word disciplina, which means instruction or knowledge, which comes from the word for “disciple.” God gives parents the duty to discipline their children.

Parents are accountable to God for the souls and the formation of their children, to instruct them in virtue, to bring Christ to them and form them in faith.

Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life Prayer

In Pope Paul VI’s reflections on Nazareth, he discussed silence, the family as a community of love and sharing, and discipline. What ties these distinctive features of the Holy Family together is prayer. Prayer is rooted in interior silence; it is the core of a community of love and sharing, and it gives rise to discipline. If we have a relationship with God, we pray. It is that simple. In modeling our families after the Holy Family, prayer must be the center of our lives and our greatest priority. If we wish to be holy families, we must pray. Holiness is our greatest weapon against the influences of the world and it is our most persuasive argument for sharing our Christian faith.

As we go forth to face the world this week, let us beg the graces we need from the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, in order to truly be Holy Families, that can transform not only their own members, but the whole world.