Holy Family

Title

Priorities in a Holy Family

Outline

Yesterday we noted that the Word became flesh

In other words, he was fully human in all but sin

As a baby he cried, contrary to the Christmas song, for that is how infants clear their lungs and that is how babies communicate needs

As he grew he was a “good” boy so long as godly things were asked

But he had to learn both physically and educationally, for that is normal human development

Yet he honored his parents and would have honored his father even if he suffered from dementia - that is a comfort for people my age

The point is that there was real flesh, real problems, and real virtue, which means that we can go to Jesus with our problems and find understanding, although not always immediate relief.

Then comes the incident in the Temple

His presents used to go to Passover, but perhaps not the other two pilgrim feasts, or perhaps Joseph went alone

When Jesus was 12, he was considered a man, if a young man - that makes this trip significant

At the end of the festivities, his parents leave without realizing Jesus was not in the caravan. We are not told that he had run off or refused to come, just that they had made a wrong assumption.

Well, they discover Jesus was not there and one can imagine their feelings as they return to Jerusalem and the search did not lessen their feelings. Feelings are not wrong; they just are.

They find Jesus in the Temple talking with the educated teachers, both listening and asking questions - one must remember that asking questions could be a form of teaching. He is acting as a learned man, even if he had never studied.

Mary seems to feel that Jesus “did this” to them, in some way abandoned them, a natural feeling. Jesus uses it as a teaching opportunity. “Why did you search?” “Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s house?” (or “involved in my Father’s business?”) In other words, his words are teaching: I am an adult, not a minor, and therefore I became involved in my Father’s activities. He implies that his Father is God. This is Mary’s second of three stages of letting go: first, when they dedicated Jesus; second, here in the Temple; third, of course, when he starts on mission and is no longer helping support the family. How hard for Mary, yet how necessary to recognize growth.

However, that was not a culture in which one was emancipated with adulthood, but one in which one joined one’s father in work with adulthood. And neither Mary nor Joseph “got” what Jesus said about “Father’s house.”

Jesus did not find that a problem: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” The right time for stepping out once for all would come, although it would be after Joseph’s death. And then in that context Mary would become the follower of her son.

Sisters, this is the struggle that followers of Jesus face

We are part of a family, and that family is ours for life, even if it is dysfunctional, even if we must separate for the health of both us and the others in the family. That is what we read in Sirach.

This stands in tension with the fact that our ultimate allegiance is to our heavenly Father and following him sometimes clashes with the assumptions of the family.

Finally, we are in three families: our family of origin, our Christian family (if the Christian community is functioning well), and our ultimate family, led by the Father and Jesus with our heavenly siblings, some very much older, wiser siblings, some more peers.

Colossians tell us how to live in an earthly family, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.  And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.” The bottom line is love - seeking the good of the other.

But of course the heavenly family is our ultimate family, the one into which ideally our family of origin and our earthly Christian family ideally fold, so they are our ultimate allegiance and our ultimate helpers in sorting out our earthly relationships.

I do not pretend to have given a simply solution, but rather to have pointed in a direction, a direction that our texts point to.

The good news is that the Holy Family is now leaders in our ultimate family, so in them we have the help we need.

Jesus, in whom we are, Holy Mary, our truest mother, and holy Joseph, silent father in the kingdom, guide us and pray for us

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 12-26-2021: Holy Family

FIRST READING

Option A

Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14

2 For the Lord sets a father in honor over his children

and confirms a mother’s authority over her sons.

3 Those who honor their father atone for sins;

4 they store up riches who respect their mother.

5 Those who honor their father will have joy in their own children,

and when they pray they are heard.

6 Those who respect their father will live a long life;

those who obey the Lord honor their mother.

12 My son, be steadfast in honoring your father;

do not grieve him as long as he lives.

13 Even if his mind fails, be considerate of him;

do not revile him because you are in your prime.

14 Kindness to a father will not be forgotten;

it will serve as a sin offering—it will take lasting root.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-26-2021: Holy Family

RESPONSE

Psalm 128:1

1 A song of ascents.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,

and who walk in his ways.

PSALM

Psalm 128:1–5

1 A song of ascents.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,

and who walk in his ways.

2 What your hands provide you will enjoy;

you will be blessed and prosper:

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

within your home,

Your children like young olive plants

around your table.

4 Just so will the man be blessed

who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion;

may you see Jerusalem’s prosperity

all the days of your life,

Catholic Daily Readings 12-26-2021: Holy Family

SECOND READING

Option A

Colossians 3:12–21

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. 14 And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-26-2021: Holy Family

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Acts 16:14b

14 One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.

GOSPEL

Luke 2:41–52

41 Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 42 and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. 43 After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, 47 and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 12-26-2021: Holy Family

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2021 | CHRISTMAS

HOLY FAMILY

Sunday within the Octave of Christmas

YEAR C | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14 or 1 Samuel 1:20–22, 24–28

Response & Psalm, Option I

Response Psalm 128:1

Psalm Psalm 128:1–5

or

Response & Psalm, Option II

Response Psalm 84:5a

Psalm Psalm 84:2–3, 5–6, 9–10

Second Reading Colossians 3:12–21 or Colossians 3:12–17 or 1 John 3:1–2, 21–24

Gospel Acclamation Acts 16:14b

Gospel Luke 2:41–52