THE FAMILY A SCHOOL OF HOLINESS, THE FAMILY, A SCHOOL OF LIFE.

December 27, 2020
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Readings: GN 15:1-6; 21:1-3 or SIR 3:2-6, 12-14; PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; COL 3:12-21 or; HEB 11:8, 11-12, 17-19; LK 2:22-40.

A Kiganda proverb says, “A united family eats from the same plate.” And a Traditional proverb adds, “A healthy family is a sacred territory.”

The Son of God, to become man, chooses to be born in the most beautiful human reality, the family. Family is the cell of life. Family is the fount of love. Family is all. At the scene of the Nativity, it is said that, after the Angel departed from the shepherds, these went in haste to assured of the great news brought to them. And what did they find, three people: Joseph, as a father (or stepfather), Mary, as a mother, and Jesus, the newborn child. This precision is very relevant and the more relevant for us today. We read from this narration of the Nativity that family is made of husband, wife, and children.

God, becoming man, gives us the shining example of the perfect family, the Holy Family of Nazareth where, despite the difficulties, love keeps the members in parfait harmony. From today’s liturgy, we also read that families are also made up of young and old.

Speaking of the Holy Family, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life: The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus - the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us... A lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character... A lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the "Carpenter's Son", in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law of human work...” CCC. 533.

From this extract from the Catechism, as well as from today’s word of God, we are offered several points of reflection on the reality of family and the understanding our today’s societies have of it.

In the first reading, we read of the laments of Abram to God for having given him no child. The tears of the old man reveal to us that the human family is not whole without the blessing of God that are children. Many families, unfortunately, some due to biological or natural reasons, some others because of wrong choices (consequences of abortions), are unable to experience the joy of parenthood. In the case of Abram, thinking that he will die without a son, the Lord makes him a solemn promise, “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great… Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so, shall your descendants be.” These words of God became the start point of the covenant with Abram, and we read that “Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.” The family here gets its first meaning as an academy of faith.

The Book of Sirach, the second option of reading teaches about the obligation of children towards their parents. It all starts with the honor due to them. For, “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.” For children, therefore, the highway to holiness is respect and obedience to parents. And Sirach adds, “Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them.”

The second reading brings up another beautiful lesson on the family. Family is described by St. Paul as a school where we learn “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if one has a grievance against another…” Family in that sense not only is a cell of holiness and love, but also the nursery of all great virtues. The child becomes what he shows in society from what he learns in his family. This affirmation has the direct consequence that without a well-rooted family education, children become a social wound.

Regrettably, we live in a world where the family has become the most problematic reality. Not only that our legislations try to find a new definition of the familial cell. They try to say that family is no longer constituted with the sacred union between a husband and a wife, but that family can be the union of two men, or two women or human beings and animals. And further, they plan the adoption of children for those irregular and uncommon living cells. On the other hand, the other wound that kills the family is that of divorce, with its consequence of so many broken families. From the fact that our families are broken, the members of the family, special the children are also broken and we end with a broken and corrupt society where vices are more priced and desirable than virtues.

The Gospel, through the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth, comes to teach us that the way for our families to become holy is the obedience to God and faithfulness to his commandments. Joseph and Mary, bringing the newborn child to the Temple teaches us that our human families can reach perfection only through their relationship with God. Thus, the beautiful saying, “The family that prays together, stays together.” The holiness of the family comes from the place its members give to God in their life. Assuredly, our human families will face trials and tribulations. They are not constituted of angels or saints. And so, challenges will come their way. But the holiness of the family life will be the openness to God’s will, just as Joseph and Mary did. May we always find wise people like Simeon and Anna not only to bless our families but also to open them to the prophecies of God. Holiness is possible if the family accepts to be a school of virtues, prayer, and humanities.