Keeping it in the family

Sermon for the Holy Family

Is there really a Holy Family? We might think of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the Holy Family, but does Jesus think like that? 

It would appear not.

[PAUSE]

The Boy Jesus would prefer to leave His parents in a panic in order to visit the temple. It would appear that He has little regard for the love that Mary and Joseph have for Him. 

Indeed, it is also He Who says that, in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we have to hate our parents.

It would seem that the Holy Family is an illusion and that families are a necessary inconvenience to Salvation.

[PAUSE]

Yet, Our Lord is profoundly pro-family. Those who hear Him and follow His teaching are to be nothing less than His family. He teaches us about God our Father, and fathers are supposed to be part of the family. On the Cross, the Lord entrusts His Mother to St John. 

And Our Lord preaches about love - unconditional love. In a family, there should be no conditions on love: you are part of the family whether you like it or not - family relationships just are. For some, that is a truly horrible prospect: some families are dysfunctional to the point of abusive. Nonetheless, the Lord is clear: family does matter, but God has to be part of it.

[PAUSE]

Mary and Joseph are on a learning curve too. Parenthood is not something that clicks in the moment the baby is born. Just as children need to learn their place in the family, so do the parents. At twelve years old, Jesus is finally able to do what He needs to do and visit His Father in the temple. Mary and Joseph know that He needs to be with His Father, but they haven't understood what this entails. And yet, even if they don't quite understand, they roll with it and Jesus submits Himself to their authority as His parents. But they have learned that there are five persons in this family.

[PAUSE]

This shows the reason as to why families become dysfunctional. Each member of the family must be able to count the three persons of the Godhead within their family. Each member of the family has a role to play and each member of the family must submit themselves to that family. This means being obedient for the good of that family; it means allowing those with responsibility to be free to be responsible; it means recognising that  we are accountable to the family wherever we have responsibility. And that includes our obedience, responsibility and accountability to God.

In the Holy Family, Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates His obedience, responsibility and accountability to Our Lady and St Joseph and, more obviously, to God the Father Who, with the Holy Ghost, is as much part of the Holy Family as any other person. That family relationship is based on giving, honouring and loving.

[PAUSE]

Our families need to become ikons of the Holy Family. This can only happen with three extra persons being present with us in how we live our lives together.