FAMILY, A CRIB OF HOLINESS.
December 30, 2022.
Feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
(When a
Sunday does not occur between December 25 and January 1, this feast is
celebrated on December 30 with only one reading before the Gospel.)
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of
Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” Mt 2:20
An Albanian proverb says: “Home is the father's kingdom, the
children's paradise, the mother's world.” And a Traditional proverb adds: “A
healthy family is a sacred territory.”
Family is where everything starts, love, life, growth, and
virtues. It is the basic cell of life. God coming to save mankind chose to
incarnate himself in a family and share its life. From that very moment, the
human family became the crib of holiness.
The Catechism 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... To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of
the world, holding up to them their great pattern their brother who is
God." CCC 533
This article of the Catechism lay the ground for us to
meditate on the Holy Family of Nazareth, but also to meditate on the family in
general. Holy Family as a school to understand Jesus: There everything began
for him through the loving care of his parents. There he learned to be a human
being, first in the womb and then in the hands of Mary projected and provided
for by Joseph. There also, he learned the beauty of silent meditation,
humility, simplicity, and perfect joy that springs from concern for others.
Holy Family has a lesson for our families today. This
springs from the communion of love that united the members of the Family of
Nazareth. Nazareth teaches us about family life that must be nourished on love,
communion, contentment, mutual understanding, support, and above all protection
of the little ones and the weak.
Lastly, Holy Family is a working place. A great lesson about
Nazareth's family and work. Jesus learned from Joseph the value of work. He did
not become a beggar because Joseph taught him to earn his daily bread. He also
learned from there, how to help feed the less fortunate.
While celebrating today the Feast of the Holy Family of
Nazareth, the entrance antiphon and the readings not only tell us where we can
find Jesus, the newborn but also teach us the values of family. We are given,
through the Hoy Family, an example to imitate, and a school of virtues.
In the first reading, the accent is on the virtues children
should cultivate. The Wiseman Sirach exhorts on the relationship children
should entertain with their parents. All take roots in the 4th commandment of
the Mosaic Law: "Honor your father and your mother." With this
commandment, the Lord revealed the importance and great dignity of family life.
It is a commandment that strengthens the family. It draws an image of the
family as an icon of the Trinity. The relation of love and communion between
the three persons of the Godhead is what the members of the family are called
to reproduce. When children honor their parents, they become an incarnation of
the Son of God in their family. For, they pattern their lives on the obedience
of Christ to the Father. Sirach says: "Whoever respects his father is
atoning for his sins, he who honors his mother is like someone amassing a
fortune." Obedience to the parents is like an act of obedience to God. The
saying goes that our parents are our first gods on earth. Therefore, we owe
them respect, honor, and love. Let's never forget the fourth commandment. It is
the only prescription of the Law that comes with a consequence: “...that your
days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Ex 20:12, Dt
5:16).
We owe our respect and honor to our parents because they are
God’s representatives to provide for us shelter, food, clothing, and education.
When we miss faithfulness to this commandment, we expose ourselves to divine
punishment. The happenings in our society today and in the world could help us
evaluate if yes or no we have been observant of God's law regarding our
parents.
Paul, in the second reading, speaks about family life in the
Lord. He presents the obligations of each member vis-a-vis vis to the others. Relation
between wife and husband, and parents with children. The Apostle mentions that
the basis of all family life and relationships is love, after the image of
Christ's love.
The family life, in the Lord, should be built after the
image of Christ's love for us. Like Jesus, every family should develop the
virtues of "heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,
patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another..." A family
without these human and spiritual virtues is just a constellation of
individuals without sincere concern for each other, so a consecration of
selfishness and indifference. In the Holy Family, they were no selfishness, indifference,
or egoism. Instead, all the members embarked on selfless love and a greater
sense of sacrifice for others. Mary sacrificed her life in obedience to God who
was to become her son. She gave up all her personal dreams to say "Fiat
voluntas Tua" to God's will, even with all the risks of rejection. Joseph
as well gave up his personal will and projects, to embark on God's greater plan
which was a mystery to him. And as we read in the Gospel, he will do everything
for the fulfillment of God's plan, even becoming a migrant in Egypt to protect
the newborn child. And Jesus, the Son of God himself came to give a new meaning
to the human family. He made it a crib of love and all divine virtues.
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