Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We can reflect on two different aspects of this Feast. First, we can learn from the Holy Family how to live our own family life. And second, we can enter more deeply into the truth that we are all called as God’s children, members of his family.
The reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians gives us a good description of the inner dispositions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as they lived their family life together: “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.… And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one Body. And be thankful.”
A family which strives to follow the example of the Holy Family will find deep joy, a joy which is rooted in the merciful grace of God. We struggle so hard, in so many ways, to bring harmony and joy into our families, but the first effort we make must be to open ourselves more and more to faith and trust in the love of God. As St. Paul says, we must “put on love.” This is the necessary foundation of true joy in the family.
Whatever the situation is in our particular families, we can find joy as well that we are called by God as his own children, and thus part of his family. St. John tells us in his First Letter: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. And so we are.” The Responsorial Psalm overflows with the joy of those who know themselves to be part of God’s family, members of his household: “Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord!”
Being a child of God is God’s gift to us, and a work of his grace. We do not earn it, nor can we do anything to deserve it. However, like every grace which God gives us, we do need to accept the gift. The way that we do this is by making room for his life in our hearts. St. Paul puts it this way: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The Gospel Acclamation gives a similar message: “Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.” We need to open our hearts to allow God’s word to fill us. We make room for him by casting out from our hearts anything that is opposed to him, especially our own pride and selfishness.
Hannah in the reading from 1 Samuel gives us an example of one who is empty of self and open to God’s grace. She had been distressed because she and her husband were unable to conceive a child. But she placed all her trust in God and abandoned herself to his mercy. The fruit of her faith and humility was that she received from God the blessing of new life: she conceived a son, the great prophet Samuel.
Hannah is a forerunner of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the perfect model of this interior receptivity. Mary opened herself so completely and fully to the will of God that he was able to become incarnate in her, as we celebrate throughout the Christmas Season, and as we will celebrate especially on Wednesday, January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
Today’s Gospel gives us some insight into the mystery of God’s life in us. Mary and Joseph have lost Jesus, and they proceed to search for him. When they find him, he is in the temple. He seems to mildly correct them: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” In other words, “Why were you looking in other places? You should know that I would be in the temple.” Jesus’ place is in the temple, his Father’s house. That is where he makes his home. If we want him to remain in our hearts, “dwelling richly” within us, then we must make of our hearts a temple, a place where God is loved and worshipped.
We do this by following the example of Mary. St. Luke says that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” She continually treasured the words and actions of Jesus and pondered them in her heart. This is what we do each day as we read and pray over the daily Scripture readings. We strive to treasure the life of God in us and allow it to transform us more and more fully into his own children, members of his holy family.
How can I relate to the concerns and anxieties of Mary and Joseph? What is the necessary foundation of true joy in my family? How am I making room for God’s life in my heart?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 21, no. 1. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.