‘Homily
for Holy Family Sunday - With Great
Anxiety
Merry Christmas. On this Sunday after Christmas, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph.We often have a peaceful picture of the Holy Family: Silent Night, Holy Night.
All is calm, all is bright. But today, the Gospels describe events that shattered their tranquility:The escape into Egypt when they become refugees fleeing a murderous despot and, today, the anguish of searching for a missing child.We do not know all the details, but it seemed to happen this way: Mary and Joseph travelled for a day, supposing that everything was fine. When they discovered Jesus' absence they were a good distance from Jerusalem.
Perhaps they searched at different spots outside of Jerusalem, but, however it happened; it took three days to finally locate their son.
I remember when was 7-8. I lived with my Grandparents and my youngest aunt. One late morning, I went to swim in the large pond in the back of the house. I forget about time, then when lunch time come, my grandparents didn’t see me at lunch table, so they went out and look for me… I was so scare so I hidden myself under the bridge. I could hear they were anxiously calling my name.
When I showed up, I had a good punishment for scaring them.Look at the reaction of Mary and Joseph in the readin. Mary softly speaks to Jesus about how they had been looking for him "with great." "My son," she says, "why have you done this?" Why did Jesus do this? We have no simple answer, but we can be confident he was not acting on a whim. Scripture scholars give us some clues. They observe that "three days" has special significance in the Bible.
St. Paul, for example, emphasizes that Jesus rose from the dead on the "third day." (1Cor 15:3-4)
Losing and then finding Jesus apparently has some relationship to the events of his death, burial and resurrection. We hear today that Mary "kept all these things in her heart." She did not brood, but she wondered and prayed. The frantic three-day search, horrible as it was, prepared Mary for a much great trial.Whatever the losing and finding of Jesus meant for Mary and Joseph, we can be sure that Jesus wants us to gain something from this event. For me it is this: I have seen no greater suffering than the loss of a child. We experienced it in our own family last week with the death of Peter my brother in law in VN. On Christmas day, I spent a good of time talking with and listening to my sister about Peter. Joseph and Mary experienced similar "great anxiety." Now, for them it did turn into immense joy when they found Jesus on the "third day." we would always encourage parents not to despair, to give up hope. But we would invite them to join the Blessed Virgin in standing at the foot the cross. She knows our anguish.There is something else we can learn from this mystery. It is small detail, but it has significance in indicating how Joseph and Mary responded to a crisis. When Mary addresses Jesus, she says, "Your father and I have been looking for you..." She could have spoken about a mother's anguish, how Jesus' disappearance had torn her heart in two and, certainly, no one would have blamed her. But she did not speak from a personal perspective. She spoke from the perspective of mátrimony:That husband and wife strive for unity, a common vision.Unity, working for a common perspective, requires daily effort and great humility. Mary and Joseph had done that work. Therefore, with perfect naturalness, Mary could say, "Your father and I." The phrase "your father and I," has significance for married couples and families. While Mary refers to Joseph as Jesus' "father," he is not physically father of our Lord Jesus. He is, however, father in every sense that matters most.
What we want all of us to take home are two lessons: When the Holy Family faced a crisis, their suffering became related to the passion, death and resurrection; the Pascal Mystery. That's the first and most important lesson. The second is that they had done the hard work of forming a common vision, a common perspective. They will help us do the same in our families; and in our parish family.
At the end of the Gospel reading, we heard that: “ Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
When parents bring their babies for baptism, they take upon themselves the huge responsibility of raising their child for God. This is what we do, Moms and Dads. We are in the business of raising children for God. To do this, our home must be a little church. For this to happen our family must be holy. We cannot create a holy family. But God can. Find ways, perhaps new ways, to open our family to the Grace of God. Today let’s all pray that all our families might be holy families.
All is calm, all is bright. But today, the Gospels describe events that shattered their tranquility:The escape into Egypt when they become refugees fleeing a murderous despot and, today, the anguish of searching for a missing child.We do not know all the details, but it seemed to happen this way: Mary and Joseph travelled for a day, supposing that everything was fine. When they discovered Jesus' absence they were a good distance from Jerusalem.
Perhaps they searched at different spots outside of Jerusalem, but, however it happened; it took three days to finally locate their son.
I remember when was 7-8. I lived with my Grandparents and my youngest aunt. One late morning, I went to swim in the large pond in the back of the house. I forget about time, then when lunch time come, my grandparents didn’t see me at lunch table, so they went out and look for me… I was so scare so I hidden myself under the bridge. I could hear they were anxiously calling my name.
When I showed up, I had a good punishment for scaring them.Look at the reaction of Mary and Joseph in the readin. Mary softly speaks to Jesus about how they had been looking for him "with great." "My son," she says, "why have you done this?" Why did Jesus do this? We have no simple answer, but we can be confident he was not acting on a whim. Scripture scholars give us some clues. They observe that "three days" has special significance in the Bible.
St. Paul, for example, emphasizes that Jesus rose from the dead on the "third day." (1Cor 15:3-4)
Losing and then finding Jesus apparently has some relationship to the events of his death, burial and resurrection. We hear today that Mary "kept all these things in her heart." She did not brood, but she wondered and prayed. The frantic three-day search, horrible as it was, prepared Mary for a much great trial.Whatever the losing and finding of Jesus meant for Mary and Joseph, we can be sure that Jesus wants us to gain something from this event. For me it is this: I have seen no greater suffering than the loss of a child. We experienced it in our own family last week with the death of Peter my brother in law in VN. On Christmas day, I spent a good of time talking with and listening to my sister about Peter. Joseph and Mary experienced similar "great anxiety." Now, for them it did turn into immense joy when they found Jesus on the "third day." we would always encourage parents not to despair, to give up hope. But we would invite them to join the Blessed Virgin in standing at the foot the cross. She knows our anguish.There is something else we can learn from this mystery. It is small detail, but it has significance in indicating how Joseph and Mary responded to a crisis. When Mary addresses Jesus, she says, "Your father and I have been looking for you..." She could have spoken about a mother's anguish, how Jesus' disappearance had torn her heart in two and, certainly, no one would have blamed her. But she did not speak from a personal perspective. She spoke from the perspective of mátrimony:That husband and wife strive for unity, a common vision.Unity, working for a common perspective, requires daily effort and great humility. Mary and Joseph had done that work. Therefore, with perfect naturalness, Mary could say, "Your father and I." The phrase "your father and I," has significance for married couples and families. While Mary refers to Joseph as Jesus' "father," he is not physically father of our Lord Jesus. He is, however, father in every sense that matters most.
What we want all of us to take home are two lessons: When the Holy Family faced a crisis, their suffering became related to the passion, death and resurrection; the Pascal Mystery. That's the first and most important lesson. The second is that they had done the hard work of forming a common vision, a common perspective. They will help us do the same in our families; and in our parish family.
At the end of the Gospel reading, we heard that: “ Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
When parents bring their babies for baptism, they take upon themselves the huge responsibility of raising their child for God. This is what we do, Moms and Dads. We are in the business of raising children for God. To do this, our home must be a little church. For this to happen our family must be holy. We cannot create a holy family. But God can. Find ways, perhaps new ways, to open our family to the Grace of God. Today let’s all pray that all our families might be holy families.
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