Reflections on the readings for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (December 26, 2021): SIR 3:2-6,12-14; PS 128:1-2,3,4-5; COL 3:12-21;LK 2:41-52
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The Gospel reading today tells the only incident we know about Christ on the verge of becoming a young man. It was Passover and the family in company with relatives, friends, and neighbors went to Jerusalem...
This day reveres the family life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. While other days revere them as individuals, today we honor the Holy Family and their extraordinary, yet ordinary bond. While Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, He is also the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and legal father of Jesus, was the carpenter of Nazareth entrusted by the Eternal Father, to protect and care for his family. The Gospel reading today tells the only incident we know about Christ on the verge of becoming a young man. It was Passover and the family in company with relatives, friends, and neighbors went to Jerusalem to pray and celebrate at the Temple. Then the unthinkable happened. His parents, believing that He was with others in their group going home, traveled for a day before realizing that He is missing. Can any mother or father not feel the terror and loss of that moment? They did what every other parent would do and rush back. They find Him still in the Temple, talking with the teachers there. Overcome by relief yet shaken by Jesus’ actions, His mother asks, “‘Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for You with great anxiety.’ And He said to 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 2:48-51).
So they all headed back home. There, they lived a simple, everyday life hidden from us and unremarkable to the people around them. But now we ponder what Mary kept in her heart. And we pray to the Holy Family to help us use each day, no matter how ordinary or extraordinary, as an opportunity to welcome God’s will. That is just as what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph did – when it was simple and especially when it was not.