Theme: The Glories of
the Holy Family
Today
being the first Sunday in the octave of Christmas, the Holy Mother Church
celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. It is a celebration of the triumph of
grace and virtue over nature. 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 still 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 their parents and all
those placed in charge of them. 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 wife. 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 this 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 it 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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