FEAST OF HOLY FAMILY

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY. Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 ;: Col 3:12-21;Gosple: Mt 2:13-15, 19-23

By celebrating the Sunday following Christmas as the Feast of the Holy Family, the Church encourages us to look to the Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for inspiration, example and encouragement. This family has come to be called in Christian tradition the Holy Family. It was holy, not simply because the Child born of Mary was holy, and the source of all holiness, but because this particular family put into practice all the wise counsels which the Hebrews had accumulated for happy home life. They were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other, and took good care of their Child so that He might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a Child of God. The feast of the Holy Family reminds us that as the basic unit of the universal Church, each family is called to holiness. Jesus becomes truly present in a family when all the members live in the Christian spirit of sacrifice. This happens when there is mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual respect. There must be proper care and respect given by children to their parents and grandparents, even after they have grown up and left home. What use is a warm house if the members of the family are cold with one another? The greatest gift that parents can give their children is their love for one another.

The first thing we can do to live a healthy Christian family life is to respect family roles. Just as the natural structure of a tree includes roots, trunk, and branches, so the natural structure of the family includes dad, mom, and children. They all go together and they all need each other in order to bear the fruit of maturity, wisdom, and happiness. The First reading and Psalm paint a beautiful picture of this. Mom and Dad are in charge. Together they have and exercise authority over their children. As the Psalm reminded us, this authority is received from God, and with it comes responsibility. Parents must not abuse their authority, or neglect the love, education in the faith, and training in virtue that they owe to their children. This is their primary mission in life. God is counting on them for this.

Children are to honor and obey their parents while they are growing up, and respect and care for them later on. These are the healthy roles of family life. Children shouldn't act like parents, and parents shouldn't act like children. It's like a triangle. Mom is one side, dad is one side, and the kids are one side. If selfishness breaks one of those sides, the whole triangle falls.

Respecting those roles is not easy in this fallen world. In today's Second Reading, St Paul gives us the foolproof formula for rebuilding the triangle whenever it gets broken nor bent out of shape. It can be summed up in two simple words: I'm sorry. If we know how to say, "I'm sorry," our family relationships can endure and grow even through very, very difficult times.
A senior Judge of the Supreme Court recently congratulated the bride and groom in a marriage with a pertinent piece of advice: “See that you never convert your family into a court room; instead let it be a confessional. If the husband and wife start arguing like attorneys, in an attempt to justify their behavior, their family becomes a court of law and nobody wins. On the other hand, if the husband and the wife -- as in a confessional -- are ready to admit their faults and try to correct them, the family becomes a heavenly one.”
"Put on... patience," St Paul writes, "bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do." There is no way to create an atmosphere of forgiveness without being ready to ask for forgiveness. The best gift we can give our families is to make a commitment to always be the first one to say "I'm sorry" whenever there is the slightest need. We could never do that without Christ's example and help.

To build a healthy Christian family, we have to expect trouble. We are pilgrims on earth. We are soldiers in a real spiritual battle. We are human beings with free will and deep-seated tendencies towards selfishness and sin - and we are surrounded by people with those same tendencies. Today's Gospel described for us a family on the run, suffering, struggling just to survive. If that's what happened to the holiest family in history, surely we should expect some of the same for our families.
God permits hardships, because he knows that hardships can bring us closer to him. St Matthew points out that the flight to Egypt fulfilled a prophecy - it furthered God's plan of salvation. Just so, when we face the hardships of family life with courage, we grow in virtue and glorify God better, because we have a chance to love more heroically. Family life truly is the school where we learn to color in the outline of the image of God in which we were created.

The spirit of cooperation and self-forgetful love can do wonders to help soften the daily trials of those around us. And there is no better way to experience the peace of Christ in our hearts than by helping ease the burdens of those around us.
This is why St Paul encouraged us in the Second Reading to "put on... heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
Today, let's ask Christ to give us that grace, and let's promise to do our best to put it into practice. No family is perfect, but no better place for raising children has been devised.
As we honor the Holy Family today, let us pray for the grace that our families can really relax and find true love and peace, the kind of love and peace that reigned in the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.