Today is the first Sunday of our Christmas season. Even though the Christmas season is only 2 weeks long in our Church’s liturgical year, we have a group of special celebrations within this time. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. Tomorrow on January 1, we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The feast of the Epiphany is the Sunday after that. The Christmas season concludes on Monday, January 8 with the Baptism of the Lord.
The one word that struck me when I was thinking about today’s celebration was the word “holy.” We celebrate the holy family today, but what does it mean to be holy? We throw around the word “holy” around so much when we talk about faith, but perhaps we’re not sure what the word “holy” really means for us as Christians. Many believers may mistakenly believe that to be holy, we need to run away from the world. Or that we need to be in church praying on our knees all day long or praying the rosary every hour of the day. But, being holy doesn’t mean walking around with a halo, not being allowed to have any fun, or despising the things of the material world. Being holy is not about withdrawing from the world or about being stoic all the time. Being holy is to brings us life and to refine who we are as human beings. Being holy is not put a damper on our emotions, but rather to elevate our emotions. Holy people are probably the most joyful people we can meet.
On our journey of faith as Catholics, we are called to attend Mass each weekend, to spend time in prayer and in spiritual formation, and to do good works of mercy as fruits of our faith. Yet, none of those things are what really define holiness. Holiness is about how we respond to God’s call, how we are guided by the Holy Spirit. In today’s Gospel from Luke, the Holy Family traveling to the Temple in Jerusalem, presenting Jesus in the Temple to perform the purification rituals prescribed by Jewish law. In making that sacrifice, they are following God’s call to holiness in their lives, in incorporating their faith into the reality of their lives and in consecrating that reality to God.
Just as the Holy Family responded to this call to holiness, we also are to surrender to God’s will and to desire to have our faith in the center of our lives. In our call to holiness, one of the most important things is knowing when to say yes in life and knowing when to say no. In holiness, we engage in life. Like we saw in Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, in the way they lived in holiness, we are called to engage in life in all of its difficulties, its struggles, and its tensions, but we are to do so in a way that reflects the fidelity we have to the will of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment