A Sunday Thought About The Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Today we celebrate the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in the traditional liturgical calendar. Okay, so the Novus Ordo calendar observed this feast on the Sunday after Christmas and now celebrates The Baptism of Jesus. It is what it is: The two calendars frequently don't agree.
In any case, we'll go with the traditional today.
A priest in our parish recently recommended that everyone have a picture of the Holy Family prominently displayed in their home. He then enumerated a number of practices that any family could, really should, follow. As I remember, these included praying together, turning off the media noise (TV, laptops, phones, etc.) to allow for periods of silence where members of a family can actually talk to each other, especially at the dinner table in the evening. Not bad advice.
As for The Holy Family, a picture could work well as long as it doesn't make Jesus, Mary, and Joseph remote or semi-real to us. They really lived together as a family after Jesus was born; they live now in Heaven. But most importantly we want to remember that their example can help us to emulate them in our daily lives, in our relationships to our parents, children, and siblings.
For all the talk about "the family" being the fundamental and most important "unit" in our society and culture, we shouldn't just think of this as a kind of sociological fact. The family unit isn't just some sort of construct. The love between husband and wife, the love of their children, the love of children for mother and father and each other - all share one thing in common: love. The Holy Family provides the perfect example of love, a love based on the love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Family should serve as the ideal toward which we strive.
Those all-too-common cases where family members behave towards each other in what is labelled a "dysfunctional" way do not alter the reality of the importance of the family. They do not negate the example of the Holy Family in our own lives. Indeed, even families where relationships are strained or dysfunctional can pray to the Holy Family for healing, and for forgiveness where appropriate.
In fact, probably most of us would do well to pray for healing and forgiveness. If we hold our families dear, then any lack of charity, any impatience, any unkind word, even any unkind thought, should cause us consternation. Why did I do/say that to someone I love? Sure, the day's work caused me to be on edge when I got home; but that's no excuse for impatience or sharp words.
No matter what troubles our families experience, whether imposed from the outside or generated from the inside, we can turn to Jesus, to Mary, to Joseph. Each lived once as we do here on earth. Each had first-hand experience facing the challenges that family life presents in so many forms.
Challenges for the Holy Family: Just think of "No room in the inn" for starters - as we were reminded by Luke's Gospel this past Christmas. Recall the flight into Egypt that St. Matthew's Gospel recounts.What about Joseph and Mary seeking Jesus in Jerusalem those three days before finding Him in the Temple?
Holy Family, yes. Family without challenges and struggles, no.
We can go to them with our own challenges and struggles. Let them know what's going on with our own families. They will hear us. They will help us.
Jesus, have mercy on us!
Mary and Joseph, pray for us!
In any case, we'll go with the traditional today.
A priest in our parish recently recommended that everyone have a picture of the Holy Family prominently displayed in their home. He then enumerated a number of practices that any family could, really should, follow. As I remember, these included praying together, turning off the media noise (TV, laptops, phones, etc.) to allow for periods of silence where members of a family can actually talk to each other, especially at the dinner table in the evening. Not bad advice.
As for The Holy Family, a picture could work well as long as it doesn't make Jesus, Mary, and Joseph remote or semi-real to us. They really lived together as a family after Jesus was born; they live now in Heaven. But most importantly we want to remember that their example can help us to emulate them in our daily lives, in our relationships to our parents, children, and siblings.
For all the talk about "the family" being the fundamental and most important "unit" in our society and culture, we shouldn't just think of this as a kind of sociological fact. The family unit isn't just some sort of construct. The love between husband and wife, the love of their children, the love of children for mother and father and each other - all share one thing in common: love. The Holy Family provides the perfect example of love, a love based on the love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Family should serve as the ideal toward which we strive.
Those all-too-common cases where family members behave towards each other in what is labelled a "dysfunctional" way do not alter the reality of the importance of the family. They do not negate the example of the Holy Family in our own lives. Indeed, even families where relationships are strained or dysfunctional can pray to the Holy Family for healing, and for forgiveness where appropriate.
In fact, probably most of us would do well to pray for healing and forgiveness. If we hold our families dear, then any lack of charity, any impatience, any unkind word, even any unkind thought, should cause us consternation. Why did I do/say that to someone I love? Sure, the day's work caused me to be on edge when I got home; but that's no excuse for impatience or sharp words.
No matter what troubles our families experience, whether imposed from the outside or generated from the inside, we can turn to Jesus, to Mary, to Joseph. Each lived once as we do here on earth. Each had first-hand experience facing the challenges that family life presents in so many forms.
Challenges for the Holy Family: Just think of "No room in the inn" for starters - as we were reminded by Luke's Gospel this past Christmas. Recall the flight into Egypt that St. Matthew's Gospel recounts.What about Joseph and Mary seeking Jesus in Jerusalem those three days before finding Him in the Temple?
Holy Family, yes. Family without challenges and struggles, no.
We can go to them with our own challenges and struggles. Let them know what's going on with our own families. They will hear us. They will help us.
Jesus, have mercy on us!
Mary and Joseph, pray for us!
Happy Feast of the Holy Family!
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