DECEMBER 30th. FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Reflection on the Gospel follows the Scripture passage ...

GOSPEL              Luke 2:41-52

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day's journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.' 'Why were you looking for me?' he replied 'Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs?' But they did not understand what he meant.

He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.

SUMMARY OF DON FABIO'S HOMILY ....

Mary loses Jesus and then finds him again three days later in the temple. She ponders this event in her heart for the rest of her life. Twenty years later, she loses Jesus for three days again, but then finds him risen. The Lord prepares us for our mission in life with events and signs that we must ponder continually in our hearts. His future action in our lives is prepared for by His past action in our lives. What are the things that God has wrought in my life that I need to ponder continually?

Don Fabio also asks us to use this Gospel to reflect on the fundamental spirit of obedience that characterizes the Holy family. Joseph, Mary and Jesus are  distinguished by their obedience to the will of the Father. In this passage, Jesus shows himself to be consumed with the desire to carry out his Father’s will. The key to a healthy family life is that the family members put obedience to the will of God first and foremost in their lives. Only then can we learn to be true fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. 

Mary teaches us the importance of pondering the right things in our hearts

The key for understanding next Sunday’s Gospel is to be found in the phrase, “His mother pondered all these things in her heart.” The story that Luke recounts to us has something that is going to be of great importance to Mary later. Mary, the model of wisdom, is the archetype of how one should relate to God, and she teaches us the importance of holding things in our hearts. But what exactly should we conserve in our hearts? This particular Gospel passage holds up one thing in particular that deserves to be pondered continually.

Mary loses Jesus and finds him three days later in the temple. During the Passion she will lose him again and find him three days later.

At the age of twelve, every Jewish boy (to this day) is expected to undergo his “bar mitzvah,” a rite which marks the transition to adulthood. The boy is expected to be able to read the Scriptures and be able to respond to questions posed by his elders. From this point on, he can take his place in the religious assembly of the people of Israel.

        Jesus undergoes this transition in an indirect way during the family visit to Jerusalem. Mary ponders that moment for the rest of her life because it was the moment in which she lost him and then found him again three days later in the temple. She lost him because he was engaged in his Father’s business. Twenty years later Mary would remember this event when she lost Jesus again in Jerusalem because he was engaged in his Father’s business, and she would find him again alive after three days. God prepares us for our mission in life with signs and events that remain impressed in our memories. These are events that have a particular symbolic force, and we recount again and again during our lives. At the age of twelve, Jesus performs this prophetic act, and Mary must hold it in her heart. In order to understand the present ways of God in our lives we must ponder on his past ways. The wonderful things that are to come have already been announced in the things that have already happened. This is true for all of us. What are the significant things that have happened to us that we need to ponder in our lives?

The Holy Family is a model of obedience to the will of God

Liturgically, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family next Sunday. The three members of the Holy Family are fundamentally united at the core of their beings in their obedience to the Father. Joseph fulfils his role with regard to Jesus and Mary in complete obedience to the instructions of the angel and to the plan of the Father. Mary, in her obedience to the angel at the Annunciation, goes on to live out her wondrous mission of being the mother of Jesus. And Jesus, in this Gospel passage, is shown to be completely caught up with the desire to be obedient to this Father. He is on fire with the longing to be engaged in his Father’s business.

        Jesus, true God and true Man, reveals to us the meaning of our existence, which is to be obedient to the will of the Father. Like him at twelve years of age, we must immerse ourselves in the story of God, and develop hearts that have no other desire than to be occupied with the affairs of God, conforming themselves to His sacred will.

Healthy family life is based on the way the family members conform themselves to the will of God

This conformity with the will of God is what keeps our families together, heals our existence, and enables us to grow. This is what makes us genuine women and men, authentic adults. The only one who can transform us into responsible adults is the invisible Father. He is all-powerful yet loves us tenderly. It is only when we become faithful children of His, acting in conformity to His will, that we are enabled to become fathers and mothers in the truest sense, taking a proper place in our own family life and in our own destinies.

WHILE WE WERE WAITING FOR DON FABIO’S HOMILY TO APPEAR THIS WEEK, WE PUT UP TWO OTHER REFLECTIONS ON SUNDAY’S GOSPEL. THEY CAN BE FOUND BELOW. The first is part of an online homily given by Fr Munachi Ezeogu, cssp. The second comes from a film on the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

A little boy greets his father as he returns from work with a question: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The father is surprised and says: “Look, son, not even your mother knows. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour?” the boy insists. The father finally gives up and replies: “Twenty dollars.” “Okay, Daddy,” the boy continues, “Could you loan me ten dollars?” The father shouts at him: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Now, go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!” At night the father thinks over what he said and starts feeling guilty. Maybe his son needed to buy something. Finally, he goes to his son's room. “Are you asleep, son?” asks the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replies the boy. “Here's the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” replies the boy and receives the money. Then he reaches under his pillow and brings out some more money. “Now I have enough!” says the boy to his father, “Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?” Today’s gospel has a message for this man and for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life.

The gospel shows us Jesus at the age of twelve. That was the age that every Jewish boy was expected to make his bar mitzvah and so become a responsible subject of the law. It was a ceremony of legal adulthood. From then on he was required to keep the law and make the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem like any other Jewish man. One way teenagers celebrate their coming of age is to go out and do those things that the law had hitherto forbidden them to do. You know your boy is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and begins to not tell you where he is going. As we can see, Jesus was no exception. To celebrate his coming of age he attends the Temple Bible class without informing his parents. When his parents catch up with him after two days of searching for him everywhere, all he tells them is, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49). Even holy families do have their occasional tensions and misunderstandings.

The most puzzling part of the story, however, is the way it ends: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (v.51). The twelve-year old adult Jesus already knows that his mission is to be in his Father’s house and be about his Father’s business. From the test-run he did in Jerusalem earlier that day, it was clear that he was already capable of doing it very well, because “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (v. 47). The puzzle then is this: If Jesus, already at the age of twelve, was ready to begin his public mission, and was evidently well prepared for it, why would he go down with his parents and spend the next eighteen years in the obscurity of a carpenter’s shed only to begin his public ministry at the age of thirty? Were those eighteen years wasted years? Certainly not! In a way that is hard for us to understand, Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth was as much a part of his earthly mission as his public life. We are reminded that it was at this time that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (v.52). And when we reflect on the fact that for every one year of his public life Jesus spent ten years in family life, then we shall begin to understand the importance and priority he gave to family life.

We have two lives, a private or family life and a public or professional one. These two lives should be in harmony but very often they are in tension. Whereas Jesus resolved the tension by giving priority to his private life, we, unfortunately, often try to resolve it by giving priority to our professional life, leaving our family life to suffer. Rose Sands writes about the unhappy man who thought the only way he could prove his love for his family was to work hard. “To prove his love for her, he swam the deepest river, crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.” The celebration today of the holy family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus reminds and challenges us to value and invest in our private life with our families before our professional life at the work place, even when our job is as important as saving the world.

The second reflection on Sunday’s Gospel comes from a film on the life of Jesus we saw last year in Italy. When Jesus is crucified, the disciples lock themselves indoors frightened and confused. Only Mary, the mother of Jesus, seems relatively calm, even though she too is grieving. One of the disciples asks her how she manages to stay so composed and she replies by telling him the story fo the finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple. She and Joseph had been distraught for three days, and then they found him in the Temple. In the same way, she has no doubt now that she will find Jesus in three days time “in the Temple.” In other words, his separation from her was because he had to do his Father’s business. And when that business is done, she will find him in a glorious way, restoring the temple of God that he himself embodies.

        The story of the finding in the Temple has something to say to all of us at times of grief, confusion, worry or despair. The three frantic days of worry represent any period of time in our lives when we feel frightened, lonely, lost, or depressed. And just as Mary and Joseph found Jesus when that terrible period was over, so we too will find great happiness when the “three days” have passed. If a woman loses a child, it will most likely be a long time before she meets that child again in paradise. But she can be sure that the day will come when she will find her loved one again “in the temple.” The same goes for any other burden that we are carrying. The time when come when the Lord’s saving presence will be felt and that burden will vanish. All that matters is that we hold steadfast to the Lord during these “three days” of trial, never losing hope in his saving and redeeming love.