December 26th 2021.  Feast of the Holy Family

GOSPEL: Luke 2, 41-52

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

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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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

 

HOMILY

1. Our life is not just biological. There is something distinctive, other about us.

In the first reading, we hear the story of Hannah who gives her child to the service of the Lord. Her son, Samuel – of which two books of the Old Testament are named – becomes a very important figure for Israel. This story of a lady who greatly desired a son but then gives him up to the Lord might seem strange, but it offers us a perspective on this Feast of the Holy Family. The second reading, from the letter of John, tells us that we are really children of God. But aren’t we really children of our biological parents? Not only; there is something more, and this feast highlights that fact. The Hebrew word for holiness refers to something distinct, separate. In our human lives there is something distinctive that we must become aware of. Our life is not just biology! There is a deep mystery in our lives.

 

2. Jesus says that he is “in” the things of the Father. What does this mean?

The Gospel recounts the finding in the Temple. Every year they go to Jerusalem for the Passover, and on this occasion it is Jesus himself who “passes over”, in the original sense of the term. At twelve years old, as would be typical for a Jewish boy of his age, Jesus shows that he has gone beyond infancy. When his parents cannot find him, they expect that he is in the “caravan” a term that refers to the normal walking together of the people, but Jesus has gone beyond the common pathway of men. They find him in the Temple with the masters of Israel. As is completely normal, Mary reproaches her son and asks why he has done this. Jesus’ reply, in the original Greek of the Gospel, means, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of my Father?” This moment in which Jesus shows his maturity of faith is a lesson for all of us: we too must recognize that we must be “in” the things of the Father. Our parents have given us our flesh and blood, but prepared us for something that is greater than our biology. We see this in every Eucharist in which the elements become more – the body of Christ. We too who are baptized are called to be something more, to be truly children of God.

 

3. Our culture no longer supports the family. For a family to survive, it must place itself “in” the things of the Father.

Once our culture supported and protected the family. In our time, this support no longer exists. A couple who wish to marry and begin a family must go against the current. Our culture has a “single” mentality. It emphasizes individual interests like entertainment and material wealth. The pathway that humanity is now treading does not help the challenges of the family. These difficulties that confront us are actually an opportunity to realize that our life is a life according to heaven. When a man and woman love each other but then encounter problems, they should remember that there is much more here than their human fragility. God is with them and they are invited to forgive, welcome, and care for the other. If they are to survive the challenges to the family, they must place themselves “in” the things of God. This is true of everything in life, but especially in the business of the indissoluble relation of marriage.

 

4. If we remain at the level of our own good qualities and talents, we will never unveil the mystery of our true greatness.

Mary and Joseph must live this moment of anguish as they discover that the salvation being achieved by this child is now becoming manifest. This Sunday all of us are called to do the same, to “pass over”, to experience Easter, to make a qualitative leap in our lives. To live a great life, we must have a relationship with the one who is Greatness itself, to see things as the Father sees them. Only then can a human father and a human mother raise their child so that he will discover who is truly is. If we remain at the level of our own good qualities and talents, we will never unveil the mystery of our true greatness. We need to be among the things of the Father! We need to go beyond the purely human, to experience Easter, to walk with the Lord, no longer merely walking the pathway of humanity.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

It can be traumatic for families when children begin to take different paths to those expected by their parents. But it is a grave matter if parents do not allow their children the freedom to be the people that the Lord is calling them to be. Parents must accept the trauma of the mystery of the otherness of their children. And how true this was of Jesus! Mary had experienced the Annunciation and knew that this child was extraordinary. But even she has to live through the trauma of the unexpected. In the Gospel, Jesus leaves the path that the family is taking and walks a road that is his own. When they find him in the Temple, he has a wisdom and a way of reasoning that is surprising to everyone. A child at twelve years of age (typically) begins to manifest his own identity. It is at this stage that a parent must accompany rather than force a child. The parent must allow the child to flower according to what God has sown within, not according to parental expectations! Yes, it is traumatic when a child takes his own path, but it is healthy and terribly important that he do so. When Jesus says, “I must take care of my Father’s business”, the phrase in the original Greek 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 true meaning from 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. It is because of this that many familial relationships end up broken. 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. The passage ends with the return of the family to Nazareth and Jesus’ submission to Mary and Joseph. This is true for all families. If I have the correct relationship with our heavenly Father, then I can have a correct relationship with everyone else. Our families in the modern world are so fragile and broken. They are saved by our connection with God, not by human techniques. With God we are freed from our dependencies on empty things and we become free to construct our families on their only authentic foundation, our relationship with God. 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 Lord.