FAMILY LIFE IN THE LORD.

December 26, 2021
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph – C.

READINGS: Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28; Ps128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10; Col 3:12-21 or 1 Jn 3:1-2, 21-24; Lk2:41-52.

“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” (Luke 2:48)

A Ghanaian proverb says: “The family is like the forest: if you are outside, it is dense; if you are inside, you see that each tree has its own position.” And an Albanian proverb adds: “If you act as good as you look, you'll never shame your family.”

Family is the origin of life, the basic cell of society. The family, Sir. William Bennett, a former United States Secretary of Education said, “is the nucleus of civilization and the basic social unit of society. Aristotle wrote that the family is nature's established association for the supply of mankind's everyday wants.” In the family, and from the family, life is begot, education is given, health is assured, and the future is prepared. The family, in that sense, is a micro department of health, education, welfare, and life. It is a whole government where one is born, grows, and dies. We all are products of a family; may it be broken or solid. All are born and educated and cared for in a family.

The Son of God, when he took our humanity, took his root in a human family. From that moment, the human family became holy and a school of life and holiness. The Gospels say that, when the shepherds and the Magi went to Bethlehem, they found the newborn baby in the hands of his mother and surrounded by the love of his father. Family, thus, is a cocoon of love, affection, and life. At the Nativity, what are put in evidence are life and love. The family is the place where life and love are celebrated every day. It is the place where life and love are given and received.

The basic cell of society that is the family, however, suffers the most today of attacks and adversities. Our societies are in peril because the family is in peril. Celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, the word of God gives us to reflect on the entity of the family as seen and designed by God and to compare it to the family as it is today.

Family life in the Lord's plan is a school. It is the first academy of moral virtues and education. It is a place where each one discovers his real position and does what he is called for. Sirach, in the first reading, speaks of the relationship parents-children. He tells us that, “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.” This is a clear explanation of the 4th commandment of the Mosaic Law. In the family, children learn respect. And when they know how to honor their parents, they will also be able to show the same honor and respect to the people they meet outside. We learn all from home, from the family. And what we learn there, shapes our personality and social being. Consequently, the children who do not obey rules and any social regulation, and have no respect for anyone in the society have it from home, from their family.

Sirach, insistently states that respect and honor of the parents will be rewarded; that those who fear the Lord honor their parents. We are exhorted to take care of our father, and I will add and of our mother too when they are old; to grieve them not as long as they live. For, we received life from them. We must therefore pay it back to them through love and care.

Family is a school of virtues, we said ahead. St. Paul, speaking to Colossians about family life in the Lord, emphasizes some virtues every family should cultivate for a peaceful and harmonious life. The Apostle says, “Put on, 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.” These virtues and moral aptitudes, when lived and nurtured in the family, they become also a standard of our life in society. No one who is truly kind, patient, compassionate, humble, and forgiving at home will suddenly be violent or immoral outside, unless he plays the hypocrite, or has a good reason for that.

The Apostle speaks also of the relationship between husband and wife, another great element of the family life. He says it should be marked with obedience, submission, mutual understanding, love. “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them.” The Apostle adds about the relationship between parents and their children. That must be also built on love, communication, understanding, and mutual respect. “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.” Parents have responsibilities regarding their children. And children in return owe to their parents, reverence and love, and obedience.

In the episode of the fleeting to Egypt, we see Joseph and Mary exerting their parental obligation, that of keeping the life of the child Jesus. The same also in the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple. Mary and Joseph express their concern and worries about the missing child. And we can read Mary saying: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

Parental guidance goes beyond giving food or buying clothes, or games and gadgets for your children. It is also about watching over their lives. That means knowing all about them, caring for them, feeling truly concerned about what they do, whom they see, where they go… Regrettably, many parents today do not know their children. The education of these ones is left under the care of social media, the internet, and society (friends and politics). Communication and genuine family bonding have disappeared. Children are more on the video games and Mobile Legend. As consequence, our societies are suffering and the world is dying, because the family life is in peril. The feast of the Holy Family is a calling to us, pastors, educators, parents, guardians, and even children... to rediscover our responsibilities and value the human family. Because the family is sacred. We could close with these words of William Bennett, “stronger families, stronger societies” and so, holy families, holy societies, and harmonious world.


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