Word to the Wise
Sunday, December 26, 2021 - The Holy Family - C (optional; new)
[opt: 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28; opt: 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; Luke 2:41-52]"Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. [Luke] See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. [1 John]
As with all big feasts, there is more than one aspect that can be celebrated, and today's feast (following close on the Nativity of the Lord) is no exception. We jump from a manger scene and a newborn infant to a 12 year old who disappears during a family attendance at a big festival! Parents can identify with that kind of situation! Family life is full of incidents like that. Grandparents never tire of reminding their adult married children who become parents of the humorous/not-so-humorous capers of their childrens' own youth. So, certainly one aspect of this feast is the family dynamic of the great anxiety caused by Jesus wandering away. His response when they find him reminds me of the child lost in a shopping mall who says to the anxious parents who find him, "I'm not lost! You are the ones who are lost!"
A second aspect moves from the drama of the lost child to the celebration of family as a "domestic church." The challenge in this aspect is to realize how our culture shapes our understanding of family, and thus our understanding of church!! The individualism of Anglo culture contrasts with the collectivism of Latin and Asian/MIddle Eastern cultures. [Cf. the dining room scene in MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING!] Jesus was born in the Middle East to a much larger family than just Mary and Joseph. We know that he had relatives and these relatives would one day turn on him and, later on, claim special status because they were related to him! How do we see ourselves as "the Body of Christ" in a family? St. Paul speaks of the members of the Body of Christ as members of "the household of God." [Ephesians 2:19-22]. St. John speaks of us, in today's first scripture, as "children of God." How does our family life reflect this?
Great spiritual realities lie intertwined with the messiness of human life. This is part of the wonder of the Incarnation. Jesus joined the messiness and in the gospels he does not emerge from this until his early 30's!!! Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family is a good reminder of all that family can mean. AMEN