In our secular world,
many people commonly see the Christmas season ending on Christmas day, but for
us as Catholics, our Christmas season begins with Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day and goes all the way through January 13 when we celebrate the Baptism of
the Lord. Today, we honor the Holy
Family in an important feast in the Christmas season. Luke describes the
finding of Jesus as a youth at the Temple in Jerusalem after becoming separated
from his parents. This story bridges our
celebration of Jesus' birth with the start of his public ministry: it's the
only story recorded in the Gospels that takes place between Jesus' infancy
& adulthood.
If we look carefully at
today’s Gospel to see what insights we can gain from it, we notice how it emphasizes
both Jesus' divine and human families, as he tells Mary that he must be in
his Father's house, but he ultimately obeys Mary and Joseph by returning to
Nazareth with them. Today's reading concludes
by emphasizing that Jesus advanced in wisdom and in age with his family in
Nazareth, increasing in both divine and human favor. In response to what
Jesus told her, Mary treasured all of these things and pondered them in her
heart. Despite all of the
frustration and confusion Mary must have felt in seeing her son go missing
along their journey, Mary treasured this moment enough to remember it in her
heart, to share it with the early Christian community so that it could be
recorded in the Gospel. The finding of Jesus in
the Temple shows the challenges and obstacles we face as families, how we can
overcome them with perseverance and respond to them in a loving way in the
context of our faith.
It's an appropriate time
of the year to look at the Holy Family right after Christmas, since Christmas
celebrations usually revolve around our extended families spending time together. While Christmas often
draws families together from far & near, the season can also remind us of
the broken relationships, problems, and unsettled arguments that exist in our
families. Christmas brings out the
best in families in charitable giving and reaching out to others, but it draws
attention to the brokenness of our human society, to the wars and conflicts in
our world, to the material and spiritual poverty that afflict so many people,
to the human suffering that is so prevalent in our world.
But in the brokenness,
problems, and challenges in our families and in humanity in general, we have
Christ the light to lead us in life, we have God's graces and blessings to give
us encouragement and comfort. In our first reading
from First Samuel, we hear how Hannah prayed and prayed for a son; Hannah’s
prayers were answered by the Lord, so she bore a son whom she named
Samuel. Yet, rather than
forgetting the promises of the Lord to her, rather than adhering to her own
will and ignoring the will of the Lord in her life, we hear how Hannah gives offerings and sacrifices to the Lord in thanksgiving, how
she is willing to give her son back to the Lord in thanks and gratitude as
Samuel is given to the great priest Eli to be mentored and nurtured. The selflessness and
deep faith that Hannah and her husband live by is a great example to her son. Samuel goes on
to become a great prophet and leader for the people of Israel.
Even though full participation
in our parish community and in our Church's liturgy & Sacraments is
essential to our Catholic faith, even though strong Catholic schools and
religious education programs are imporant parts of our faith formation, we
should note that Second Vatican Council calls the family “the domestic
church.” Thus, by their word
& example, parents are the first preachers of the faith to their children. Hannah and her husband passed down their faith to
Samuel, and Jesus grew up in the faith through the example of Joseph and Mary
in his life as well. All Christian parents
are called to encourage their children in the vocation which is proper to each
of them, fostering with special care a vocation to a sacred state. All of us as adults or
parents in our community of faith might ask ourselves how we are preaching the
Good News of the Gospel to our children and youth in our words & in our
actions.
Today, let us celebrate
the Holy Family that nurtured Jesus throughout his lifetime. As we reflect upon this
very human story of Jesus being lost in the Temple and being found by his
family, let us see how we are called to holiness in our own families, how we
are called to cultivate this holiness in our families and have it infuse how
we live out our lives of faith.
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