Sunday the 29th of December 2024 - The Holy Family

1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28/ Ps 84(83)/ 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24/ Luke 2:41-52

(There are other choices of readings and psalms today)

A few years ago the Prime Minister of the day, his wife and their three children were visiting a pub along with two other families. At the end of the evening the couple left in separate vehicles to go home. Shortly afterwards they realised that their eight-year-old daughter was not with them. Each parent had thought the child was with the other. The couple were said to be ‘distraught’ an emotion that any parent who has, even momentarily, lost a child will sympathise with. This can happen to any parent regardless of how attentive they are. It is not a sign of poor parenting.

In the gospel today we find the parents of Jesus in this position. They had been visiting Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. We presume they were travelling in a group and on the way home Mary and Joseph were with different parts of the group each believing that Jesus was with the other until they discovered he was not with either of them or any of their travelling companions. We can imagine the worry they had as they returned to the city to look for him the reading telling us they were in ‘great distress’. As with the Prime Minister’s daughter, who was found helping the pub staff clear up, Jesus was not in the slightest concerned and as is often the case with temporarily missing children having no understanding of why their parents were so distressed. Jesus considered himself to be at home in ‘his father’s house’. Mary and Joseph did not fully understand the situation and required Jesus to return home with them. A dutiful son, he obeyed them and submitted to their guidance.

The intention of the Church in presenting us with the celebration of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, is to give us the model for a Christian family by highlighting the attentiveness of Mary and Joseph towards their son, their respect for the law of their faith, and the obedience of Jesus to his parents even though it meant he could not, at that time, follow his own will.

The Church presents the family as the foundation of a religious and secular society. Our modern image of family can be very different to that of the Holy Family, but the truth remains that a married father and mother represent the best basis for a stable society and a foundation of Christian faith. As with the Holy Family the modern Christian family is called to observe the precepts of the Church and to hand them down to their children. Parents have the responsibility and great joy of sharing their faith with their children as they carry out their formation and education. Something that they promise to do at their marriage ceremony and during the baptism of their children.

It is the responsibility of Christian parents to be the first educators of their children in the practice of their faith. To do this the parents themselves must be well versed in church teaching and practice themselves. It is an abrogation of this responsibility simply to place children in Christian schools and leave the education to them. The home should be the first and best school of faith.  

The gospels give us very little detail about the family life of Jesus although from the little we do get there is an underlying theme of family love and respect. In the Holy Family we see a dedication to worship. It would not have been an easy journey to travel to Jerusalem and back. We see the natural and understandable worry and concern at the temporary loss of Jesus, and the joy and relief of finding him. Family values that we can appreciate and understand. This is at odds with the decimation of the family we can witness so often in our society today. Many of the troubles in society can be traced to the disintegration of the family as we know it. The family should be at the heart of the construction of a solid social and Christian life. We have a challenging question to ask ourselves. Why is it that family values of old are being discarded so prevalently? Children will develop as good Christians and good citizens if they are loved, motivated, educated, and yes, disciplined, by parents who are dedicated to their vocation as the first teachers of their children.

We see too many examples of broken homes, single parent families, children left to their own devices, children being abused both in the home and otherwise. The challenges to the bringing up of children in their faith and to be good citizens are many and varied. It seems that too often children have become commodities like any other. Something that can be obtained by right rather than a gift from a loving God.

Jesus grew up in a loving family setting. He must have taken on much from the way his parents lived, worked, and prayed together. Jesus was educated and formed in his faith in the heart of a loving family that is an example to all Christian families. When we take on married life, we take on great responsibilities. Any children that are born into this family are to be seen as gifts from God and not obtained as a right. They should be nurtured in their faith and brought up in a loving caring environment making them ready to take on the vocation asked of them in their turn.

Let us pray that God will bless our families and in so doing ensure the stability of our faith and society.

God Bless Brendan