December 27^th 2015. FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

GOSPEL                                  Luke 2:41-52

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

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL                                  Luke 2:41-52

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover, 
and when he was twelve years old, 
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning, 
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, 
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple, 
sitting in the midst of the teachers, 
listening to them and asking them questions, 
and all who heard him were astounded 
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished, 
and his mother said to him, 
“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.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favour
before God and man.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . .  Parents think they know their children, but every child has gifts and capacities given by God that go beyond the capacities and expectations of their parents. How true this was of Jesus! When he says, “I must take care of my Father’s business”, the phrase really signifies, “I must be in my Father’s business”. What this means is that Jesus is totally caught up in his relationship with his Father. It is impossible for him to be any other way. And the same should be true for each one of us! We are created by God and our existence receives its meaning by its connection with God. If we are to live authentically, then we must base on lives on our primary relationship with the Father. Once we do this, then all the other relationships in our lives and in our families are ordered properly. Without God, our relationships with others are at a horizontal level. They can become obsessive, easily threatened, violent or abusive. But once we base all other relationships upon our primary connection with the Father, then these other relationships begin to draw life from the God who is the source of life. This Christmas, let us contemplate the Christ who is born of the Father. May we too become new creatures whose life derives from our relationship with the Father.

What does it mean to be a parent? To have possession of a child? Are relationships based on connections between people or should they be grounded first and foremost in God?

The first reading tells how Hannah, the mother of Samuel (the one who will anoint David as king of Israel), takes her son as soon as he is weaned and gives him over to the Lord. Samuel is left with the priest, Eli, who will raise him and educate him. Hannah had longed for a child for many years but now she has little time to enjoy him before giving him to the Lord. Maternity is not about the possession of a child. The sacrament of matrimony is about the construction of the Church and society, about raising, instructing and welcoming life in all its forms. In opposition to that, the tendency towards self-reference and egoism is ever-present in all that we do. Familial relationships are potentially salvific, consoling and edifying, but they can also be disordered and destructive. How can we foster authentic maternal and paternal relationships?

In every child there is something mysterious and novel that goes beyond the understanding and expectations of his parents

The Gospel tells of a journey to Jerusalem on the occasion of Passover, and the story refers to a definite rite of passage or transformation in the life of the family. At the age of twelve, a Jewish boy was considered to pass to adulthood and would undergo a ritual called Bar Mitzvah. He was expected to be able to read the scriptures in Hebrew, answer questions and be knowledgeable about his Jewish faith. Jesus goes to Jerusalem at this age along with a caravan of people. But when it is time to return home, Jesus affirms that he has a new home, the true home of his existence. His parents are unaware at first that he is missing, and when they find him they do not understand his response. There is always something in a child that cannot be fully understood by his parents. When a child becomes an adult, we begin to discover that he is a mysterious and surprising creation of God. There is always an aspect of the child that will go beyond the conceptual schemes of his parents. Parents must accept that being a parent involves one day having to face up to this surprise. Your child cannot be fully comprehended by you. There is a side to your child that you will not be able to fully comprehend. Every parenthood, even the spiritual fatherhood of the priest, must one day confront this trauma of incomprehension before the mystery of the other. A parent raises a child and believes that she knows him through and through, but this is simply not true. In every child there is the invisible that God will unveil in them, the substance of their personal relationship with God, something unique and unrepeatable.

Our God is the God of surprises. His work always involves innovation and originality

Jesus has left the caravan and can no longer be found among his relatives and friends. He has gone beyond the parameters by which his parents would normally have understood him. When they eventually find him, he is in the Temple among the elders and he is being questioned by them. He demonstrates wisdom beyond his years. How often we hear children express intuitions that leave us flabbergasted. Children nowadays demonstrate an aptitude for technological matters that far exceeds that of their parents. This is just an example, but every new generation always has something new to contribute that goes beyond what is expected of them. We see this in the story of Jesus in the Temple. God bestows something new upon each of us that surpasses that which has been given to us by our parents. It is incredible to think that the mother of Jesus is the Blessed Virgin Mary, but God has even more to say to his son than this wonderful lady can say to him. We call Mary the “Seat of Wisdom” and rightly so, but even she was perturbed by the words of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Our God is the God of surprises, and the work that he is bringing to fruition in his own son is full of novelty and innovation.

Jesus cannot help but be totally caught up in the things of his Father. And if our relationships are to be authentic, then we must be the same

Mary is at the centre of this passage. When they find Jesus, she asks why he has done this. “Your father and I have been searching for you”, she says. Here we see great refinement. It is not easy for men to communicate their feelings. In this phrase Mary mediates between Joseph and Jesus and helps her husband to communicate with her son. It is easier for mothers to relate their feelings to their sons, and here Mary mentions the sentiments of her husband before she mentions her own. Jesus replies, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must take care of my Father’s business?” Yes, they knew in one sense, but in another sense they did not know at all. The things of the Father are always new and surprising. The words of Jesus do not signify to be occupied by the things of his Father, but to be in the things of the Father. The nature of Christ’s complete being is such that he cannot be anything else but completely caught up in his relationship with the Father. And it is the same for us, even if we do not know it. It is a fact of our existence that our entire being is in relationship with God. We are truly ourselves when we cultivate that relationship with the Lord. Just as Jesus is in the Father, so we too are called to save our relationships by basing them on this marvellous connections with God. It is in and through our relationship with God that our relationships with others settle down and become less anguishes. Life does not depend on horizontal relationships between people. These relationships rather are an echo and a consequence of our primary relationship with our heavenly Father. When we have a proper relationship with God then we are not threatened or obsessed by other relationships; we do not become slaves of such relationships, nor do we descend into violence or abuse. It is God who is the source of life in our relationships. When we seek life from horizontal associations with others, then we end up being immersed in vengefulness or hatred. May the Lord grant us this Christmas to contemplate Christ and to become new creations ourselves, born from the Father. God can bring Christ to life within each one of us.