Reflection/Homily: Feast of the Holy Family/Sunday in the
Octave of Christmas (December 30 2012)
Theme: The Glories of the Holy Family
Theme: The Glories of the Holy Family
Today, the
Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. It is not the
celebration of saints in human garments but the triumph of grace and virtue. The
members of the Holy family experienced several challenges like we are
experiencing today but they did not allow these challenges to distract the
peace, love and unity that existed among them. The gospel reading (Luke 2:41-52)
presents us with one of such challenges – the difficulty of finding Jesus when
he was missing for three days. Others include the misunderstanding between Mary
and Joseph when Mary conceived without Joseph’s collaboration, the difficulty
of finding a place at Bethlehem, etc.
This feast
is relevant to our present society when most families are on the verge of
disintegration. It offers us an opportunity to reflect on the virtues of Jesus,
Mary and Joseph and see how we can apply them in our lives to make our
individual families holy after their examples. To do this better, we shall
briefly examine their individual lives and find out what lessons we can learn
from them.
From this,
children should learn to be obedient and submissive to our parents and all
those placed in charge of us. They should be disposed to take instructions from
them and follow the good paths shown them instead of neglecting, disobeying or
insulting their parents and guardians.
Mary’s
attitude as the Mother in the Holy family was prefigured in the first reading
(1 Samuel 1:20-22.24-28) in the life of Hannah. By her obedience to the will of
God, Mary received a special gift from God which she in turn dedicated to God
even though He was God-made-man. Humanly speaking, Mary kept herself pure and
she found favour with God. As a mother, she gave Jesus every necessary support
even when she could not clearly understand what was going on.
Mothers
should learn to be submissive to the will of God with the spirit of humility
and sacrifice. Mary was a good mother and a faithful husband. She treasured all
the things she could not understand in her heart and kept praying to God for
the manifestation of His will. She persevered a lot and never lost hope and
faith in God. Her trust in God was never shaken even when she had to behold her
son dying. Mothers should adopt the spirit of total resignation to the will of
God in their families and allow God to direct their affairs instead.
Joseph as
the father was loving and caring. He knew his responsibilities and was faithful
to them. He was disposed to accept the will of God to keep Mary even after he
had decided to secretly divorce her. He protected Mary and the child Jesus by
taking them to Egypt at night. From him, fathers should learn to be caring,
loving and be faithful to their responsibilities at home.
The family
is the domestic Church and is the most important structure in the society.
Today’s feast challenges us to uphold family values of love, peace and
togetherness in the society. That is why the second reading (1 John
3:1-2.21-24) assures us of our participation in the family of God by virtue of
Christ’s incarnation and participation in
the human family. This relationship
is concretely seen in the Church which prepares us for our heavenly home.
Therefore, what have you done to improve the quality of the human family or the
family of God on mission (the Church)? God loves you.
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