Presence, Plan and the Patron
December 26. 2021: Solemnity of the Holy Family
1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28; 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52
We celebrate today the feast of the Holy Family... a reminder to every Christian family about the universal call that we have towards Godliness. Yes, we are called to be the people of God, in families. The People of God were always called as families - the people of Judah, the people of Israel... are some ways in which the people are referred to. And when people referred to God they used titles such as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob...these were not just persons, but households, families! We are not only families that belong to God, we have a God who identifies with our families.
Celebrating the Holy Family today, we are invited to look at three prominent constituents of a family... parents, children and the Almighty!
Parents are the presence of God in the family! When the Lord wills to create a family, God chooses a man and a woman to form that family...and deigns to form them into parents! This has three implications to pay attention to: being parents is a call, a God-given mission; being parents is a responsibility; and being parents is a course of maturity. The call is to participate in the salvific mission of God; the responsibility is to make God present and discern God's will in the daily events of the family; and it is a journey of growth and maturity that the parents are called to!
Children are the plan of God in the family! Children are gifts and tasks; they are the dreams and the designs; they are the plans that God has for the future of a society. They are gifts and tasks - as they are given as gifts to the family and as they have the task of making the family feel sustained. They are the dreams and desings - as every child born is a sign that God still loves the world and has a design for the salvation of the whole humankind. They are the plans that God has for humanity, as God sends every child into this world with a purpose and a project - if the particular person does not accomplish it, it is left undone and it affects the entire humanity!
God our Father and Mother, is the patron of every family on earth! God needs to be given the rightful place in our homes; the parents learn from the Lord and exercise the authority that God gives; the children see the Lord in the parents and love the Lord in return for all the good! God remains the patron of every family as the parents offer their children back to God and the children heed to their parents as the representatives of God! God plans everything for the family, in as much as the family together kneel before the Lord in discernment and decision making. Raising a question as to who is important in the family - the husband or the wife, the father or the mother, the parents or the children - is an anomaly, as God Almighty is the most important in the family. A family that prays together, stays together, grows together, and experiences God together.
Can we not observe these three qualities in the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph become the immediate presence of God for Jesus; Jesus becomes the core plan of God for the salvation of humanity; and God remains the patron of the family, directing them, guiding them and animating them in every way!
May our families take after this splendid model, and learn at the School of Nazareth to become really the people of God amidst the world today!