The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

December 26, 2020

It takes a village to raise a child. That'southward a subtle, unspoken assumption in Luke'south account of the start time Jesus entered the temple. As Luke tells his story, he depicts Joseph, Mary and all of Israel as part of the scene when Jesus start entered what he would call his father's house.

Although Luke is careful to insist that the family went to fulfill the law, every bit soon as they arrived, their ritual reasons for being there were sidelined as the chosen people came to the fore in the guise of two elders. Only every bit Elizabeth and Zechariah, the Baptist's parents, had symbolized Sarah and Abraham, Anna and Simeon recollect the story of Hannah who brought her son Samuel to Eli in the temple where holy women watched the scene.

These details situate the infant Jesus in the center of the history of his own people. The hamlet that produced and raised him stretches back ii,000 years to God's covenant with Abraham. Jesus belongs to the chosen people by law, by heritage and past recapitulating their history in himself.

There's a unique beauty and important Gospel theme depicted past the fact that while Jesus' entry into the temple symbolized his membership in the people of God, the individuals who recognized and welcomed him were simple elders. The temple would have been swarming with ordinary folk similar Anna and Simeon, along with authorities similar scribes, Pharisees, priests and other officials. In the midst of all of them, it was Simeon, a human with no titles just a sterling reputation, who, equally he held the child, somehow beheld everything he had e'er hoped for.

With his predictions almost Jesus, Luke allowed Simeon to foreshadow the remainder of the Gospel story. So, came Anna, the ancient widow who spent her life in prayer. While Simeon prayed in thanksgiving and spoke to Mary and Joseph, Anna took on the role of being the first evangelist, announcing Jesus' presence to all who were pending redemption.

When we envision all that happens in this story, we brainstorm to realize that the Feast of the Holy Family is really not well-nigh a nuclear family of two parents and an only child, but a celebration of human customs. This story and its symbolism introduce the states to a web of relationships that grows exponentially equally each of the original characters comes in affect with others who spread the word to their relations, and on and on, from age to historic period.

Our communities are particularly important every bit we celebrate the family on this Sun after Christmas. Many families will exist basking in Christmas memories and enjoying the gifts they received just two days ago. At the same time, a great number of our people did not gloat the season with an intact nuclear or extended family. For many, the holidays highlight the hurts of cleaved marriages, family feuds, or the loss of loved ones. If Christmas was hard for them, the Feast of the Holy Family tin feel like a day of unnecessarily rubbing salt in their wounds.

In order to brand this feast more attainable to all, we might take our cue from Luke and celebrate it as a feast of our ever-expanding community of loving relationships. With that perspective, nosotros can enjoy Sirach's wisdom almost respecting parents as a reminder to exist grateful for all we accept received from our elders: parents and extended family, the pillars of the parish, retired religious women, and our ancestors in organized religion.

Today's optional reading from Genesis invites the states to remember our roots in the Jewish tradition and to stand up with Abraham as he wondered if God's promises could ever come true. God's covenant with Abraham started the storyline in which God fulfills promises to accomplish the impossible with people who strive to be faithful.

The Letter to the Colossians offers a meditation about how to build up our communities. The cardinal idea is to allow honey to exist "the bond of perfection" amid u.s.. That does not mean that we will be perfect, but that our bonds of dear will outweigh the imperfections that tear a community apart when we give them too much importance.

The Feast of the Holy Family certainly celebrates families. On a larger scale, it invites united states of america to cherish and develop our ability to participate in communities of beloved. We are created for God, in the paradigm of the Triune God whom nosotros know as a constantly expanding, extensive community of beloved. Similar Jesus, we all have the power to enter into and grade the communities that make the states more than human being and more godlike.

The family we really celebrate today is the whole, holy family of humankind, jump together across the ages by the God who loves us into life — now and forever, amen.

This story appeared in the Dec. 11-24, 2020 print event under the headline: The whole family of God .

Mary M. McGlone

St. Joseph Sr. Mary K. McGlone serves on the congregational leadership team of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

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