Feast of the Holy Family
If
there’s one time of year that we associate with family, it certainly would be
Christmas time. Whether our family
is far or near, almost everyone I know tries to make it home to be with family
for at least part of Christmas.
Sometimes the weather gets in the way. Others cannot be with family due to service in the
military. But the goal is always
to be home for Christmas time.
It
makes great sense, then, that in this Octave of Christmas, the eight days that
the Church celebrates Christmas Day itself, that we celebrate the Holy Family
of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We
take time to focus on that First Family of our Faith. We try to emulate their example, and be a holy family
ourselves.
The
Church takes great care in protecting families. She teaches that the family is the domestic church, the home
church, because is it not the family where the faith is passed on from one
generation to the next? Is it not
in the family where daily sacrifices can be offered to God as fitting
worship? Is it not from the family
that we are sent out to pass on what we have received?
In
our own times, family life can be strained and difficult. It is no longer the case that most extended
families live fairly close to each other.
Whether due to the economy, or even simply due to the fact that people
are more mobile now than ever before, extended families are often separated by
great distances. And time seems so
much more precious now, with more opportunities for parents and children
alike. Working with the children
of our parish school, in one sense I cannot imagine what it takes to make sure
that Bobby is at basketball, and Denise is at dance, and Jimmy is at hockey,
and Julie is practice for the clarinet, all at the same time, of course. On the other hand, as a spiritual
father of this community, I can
understand as I try to make it to the sports games, the band concerts, the
plays and musicals, and all the different activities of adults and children
alike to show how important each person is not just to me, but to Jesus, whom I
represent.
Besides
the strain within family life, there are also external pressures on the
family. While the Internet has
allowed people to keep in touch and to share valuable information with each
other, it has also plagued many families, especially, but not limited to, fathers
or sons, with the evils of pornography, Internet and gambling addictions, and
double lives. These evils tear
away at the trust that is necessary in families, and they can often lead to
extra-marital affairs and the objectification of others, especially women, as
means to the end of gratification.
No wonder, then, the divorce rate is up and more and more families are
broken.
In
the midst of this, the Church does not merely stand as a nay-sayer, just
pointing out what is wrong and the dangers. The Church, based upon God’s Word of life and truth, offers
us guides to help us be the holy family that God has created us to be.
Our
first reading mentions a first and key ingredient to a holy family: going to
the temple. Hannah had pleaded
with God for a child, and the Lord had blessed her with a son, Samuel. After Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought
him to the temple of the Lord, and gave him back to God. Now, don’t leave all your children here
after today’s Mass; that’s not what I’m suggesting. But, bringing your children to Mass with you is so
important!! To show your children
that a relationship with God is key to your life is to pass on the faith and be
a missionary to those who do not fully know Jesus: your children. Children know that what you make time
for is important, and if you make time for God in attending Mass on Sundays and
Holydays, they will know how important that is. If, instead, you drop them off at religious ed and then
return home, or even if you let them go to class while you go to Mass, and then
just let them join you half-way through, you are not helping yourself to be a
holy family. Or, if you send your
child to our parish school or Lansing Catholic, but then don’t go to Mass on
Sunday because they have already gone once this week, then it will be much
harder to be a holy family.
But
our relationship with God has to go beyond the walls of this Church. Prayer life as a family is also a key
ingredient in order to be a holy family.
Remember that old saying, “the family that prays together stays
together”? It was a wise
saying! Prayer as a family in the
home is a great way to be like the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. And it has to go beyond Grace Before
Meals. Many parents pray with
their children before bedtime, so that the child’s last activity before falling
asleep is not TV, or video games, but is time spent talking and listening to
God, often remembering those who need prayers in the family because of sickness
or struggles. At whatever time of
day you choose, make it a habit to pray together as a family and/or read the
Bible together with favorite stories, at least from the Gospel.
There
are other pieces of advice that the Church gives, based upon the Word of God
and 2,000 years of being a Mother, like not making other things (including
sports) a god; gathering around the table for dinner on a regular basis; guarding
children from adult-themed TV shows, movies, and websites; and certainly having
families support one another. But
the two I mentioned today are a good start. Does it mean that there won’t be any difficulties? Certainly not! The Holy Family, as we heard in our
Gospel today, wasn’t always on the same page. Or think about the long journeys that they took, first to
Egypt to escape King Herod, then to Nazareth, and St. Joseph died before Jesus
began His earthly ministry. Holy
does not mean easy. But it does
mean united to God, who can help us to carry our crosses. And what truly makes a family holy is
that, each day, while juggling all the activities of family life, the family is
trying to do the will of God as best as it can, and offering everything that
happens to the Father as an acceptable sacrifice through Jesus the Son in the
power of the Holy Spirit. If we
truly want to make society, which is just a conglomeration of families, a
better, safer place, then we have to start in our own homes by making Sunday
Mass a priority, by making prayer a priority, and by supporting each other in
good times and in bad, so that we can strive to do the will of God, and be a
holy family here in Michigan.