Word to the Wise
Monday, December 27, 2010 - The Holy Family
[Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23]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, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these, put on love, that is, the bond of perfection..... [Colossians]
The feast of the Holy Family has a tough time making its point nowadays. Divided and "blended" families are so common that one needs a computer to figure out who is kin to whom! Each year the National Marriage Project (headquartered at Rutgers University] publishes a report entitled, THE STATE OF OUR UNIONS, which gives a wealth of statistical data in regard to the state of marriage as a sociological reality in our country. The statistics are not happy ones from a sacramental point of view (which, of course, is not a factor for this secular study). The statistics regarding child and spousal abuse in our country are also very unhappy ones. The headlines in the media also reveal how the very concept of family in our country is being relativized. One wonders where it will all go. Although we may regard some of the stories about polygamy out west as bizarre, if the state can grant recognition to "domestic partnerships" or define marriage as a contractual relationship between any two persons of whatever sexual orientation, the state can just as easily allow polygamy! (The State of Utah had to renounce polygamy as a condition for statehood back in the early 1900's. cf. U.S.v.Reynolds).
As gloomy as this picture can get, I nevertheless experience in many families of my acquaintance much of the vision that St. Paul speaks of in the Letter to the Colossians. Yes, there are some lines in the "longer version" that give rise to some nudges in the pews, but my hope is that the focus will be on forgiveness and love, as the bond of perfection. The Holy Family was not some first century A.D. Palestinian version of "Little House on the Prairie!" There was a point in Jesus' ministry when his family thought he was mentally ill and were going to seize him and remove him from public life! The vision that St. Paul places before us is one that applies to all kinds of communities, but it is magnified in the family unit. The challenges can be magnified even more in this season. Family feuds and old/new grudges seem to be more painful.
Whatever social, economical, political or other anti-family currents there may be, the Christian heritage of faith envisions a family as a reality created by the love of God manifested in the love of a man and woman in a lifelong commitment open to the reality of children. The feast of the Holy Family can serve as a reminder of this profound reality and a motivation to work with greater determination to make family life a healthy and happy, loving and faith-filled, witness to God's love. AMEN
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