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| The Holy Family by Daniel Bonnel |
Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family
(Scriptures for today's Mass)
Audio for homily
It’s
still the Christmas season on the church calendar
and
your tree and decorations are probably still up at home,
but
the business and the busy-ness
of
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
are
fading quickly.
Time
then, perhaps, to ask a few questions on this Holy Family Sunday.
“Does Christmas bring out the best
in
your family – or the worst?
Does
it bring out the best or the worst in you and me?”
Maybe
it’s the light of that star over Bethlehem
that
discloses both the best and the worst in our holiday households,
and
in ourselves.
Christmas
certainly draws families together
with
folks traveling home, to and from distant places,
but
Christmas can also highlight the problems in our families:
the
estrangements, the grudges, the unsettled arguments
Of
course,
Christmas
also has a way of opening our hearts and our wallets
to
the poor, the needy, the homeless and the hungry;
but
it also highlights the great cultural divide
that
keeps the poor poor, and the rest of us, not poor
–
for the balance of the year.
Christmas
light shines brightly on the world’s divisions, too -
especially
on the scourge of war.
What
does it mean to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace
while
war is waged in so many places and more often than not,
on
the doorsteps of the very poorest in our global family?
And
how will we welcome the Prince of Peace in our homes
if
we refuse to forgive and reconcile and welcome our own?
On
this feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
what
might we pray for our own families - and for ourselves?
As
saturated with ancient cultural norms
as
today’s first scripture was,
its
categories offer a plan for family order good for every age:
honor,
authority, respect, prayer, reverence,
obedience,
care, kindness and simple consideration of others.
Are
these the foundation on which we build our families?
Are
these the virtues each of us tries to live
in
order to contribute to family unity and harmony?
St.
Paul offers a similar kind of “household order,”
calling
us to “put on,” that is to clothe ourselves in
heartfelt
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,
forgiveness
of those who offend us, gratitude
and,
above all, a willingness to let Christ rule our hearts.
The
qualities Sirach and Paul urge on us might be just the ones
found
lacking in our own households, and in our selves.
These
aren’t the categories by which our culture judges success
and
to many they may sound dated and out of fashion.
How
often and how easily do just these values fall victim to
busy
calendars, to self-interest, to electronic communication,
to
the demands of work and school and social commitments?
What
values, what interests, whose interests,
fill
the family calendar? manage the family budget?
schedule
the family’s time together?
spark
the family’s conversation? bond the
family’s intimacy?
How
is my family’s life, how is my life
marked
by honor, authority, respect, prayer, reverence, obedience,
care,
kindness, consideration of others, justice,
heartfelt
compassion, humility, gentleness, patience,
forgiveness
of those who offend us, gratitude
-
and a willingness to let Christ rule our hearts...
Each
of us might well ask
if
those virtues find a home in our own hearts
how
can we expect them to find a home in our families?
and
in all our other relationships at work, at school,
in
our parish, in the neighborhood, in the community?
As
I speak about those virtues I know that a couple of them
stick
in my mind and heart as ones I
need to look at, to work on.
Do
some of them stay with you, too?
Might
there be some good material here for us
as
we consider making New Year’s resolutions?
The
Eucharist we are about to celebrate
is
given to nourish, to grow these virtues in our minds and hearts.
Pray
with me that the Supper we share here,
at
the table of our family in faith,
will
feed us for living as the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph:
in
peace with God and with one another,
and
inviting Christ to rule our hearts.
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