Every family develops in heart and soul by imitating the faith, hope and love of the Holy Family
Reflections on the readings for the Feast of the Holy Family (December 30, 2018): SIR 3:2-6,12-14; PS 128:1-2,3,4-5; COL 3:12-21; LK 2:41-52
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
On this Sunday after Christmas we celebrate Jesus, Mary and Joseph as family – the Holy Family.
We recognize them for the many ways they are like all human families as well as the unique ways they are not. Through God’s plan for salvation, Mary unites them is a special way. Jesus is the Son of the Virgin Mother and the Son of God. Joseph is the husband of Mary, the foster father and guardian of the Word Incarnate, and head of the Holy Family.
Before they were able to live a quiet life in Nazareth, they had to seek asylum in a foreign land because the king of Judea wanted to murder the Christ Child. Then, when Jesus was twelve, the family went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and He stayed behind to talk with the teachers in the Temple. Surely, Mary and Joseph were as frantic and fearful as any other parents whose child is missing while they searched for three days before finding Him. And they must have been both relieved and confused when He told them: “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house? But they did not understand what He said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and His mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:49-51). Jesus, Mary and Joseph are models of devotion to each other, but above all, to the will of the Eternal Father. And that is exactly the way we should live in our own homes. It is not always easy, but it is always right.
