That family looks suspicisiouly like mine…

(Basically my homily for today)

The gospel for the feast of the Holy Family this year is also the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: the Finding in the Temple. What a fantastic episode of the life of Christ to be brought to the fore when we turn our gaze to the

Gotch’ya now!

Holy Family! Mary, conceived without sin, ever Virgin, the perfect disciple, lost her Son, who is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity and the Savior of the World. Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself, “runs away,” leaving His family in the middle of Jerusalem (kind of like taking off in Times Square). And poor Joseph, whose been charged with the care and protection of the two most important people in history as foster father and husband, the only one in the family with the taint and corruption of sin, is desperately trying to regain control of the situation. For the Holiest of Families, it doesn’t seem like everything is going perfectly!

I think perhaps the reason the Church chose this gospel for this feast is to remind us of the very real humanity of the Holy Family. Jesus Christ, in taking on flesh, in becoming human, really did in fact take on everything we experience as creatures. By doing so, our Lord lifted up humanity to a previously unknown dignity, even beyond that of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Everything our Lord did raised human beings and human actions to a new level. This includes the family. Through his birth, God entered into and became part of a family. It wasn’t pretend, they weren’t playing house, and it wasn’t a metaphor. This is the real deal! Just the same as becoming human placed him square in the muck of our existence, it also meant entering into the craziness of family life.

Mary and Joseph were human persons. With all the limits and finitude which that entails, they were just like us. I’m the oldest of 11 children. Yeah… you can be darn sure that Mom and Dad have forgotten one or two us before. Based off of talking to other parents, this “fun” experience is

Here’s all 11 of us (plus the first grandbaby)!

part and parcel of raising kids. They’re human. Just like the Holy Family. SO often I hear mothers and fathers lament the messiness of their family life, expressing a desire to be like “other” families. Family life is family life is family life. If Mary, Joseph, and Jesus struggled to keep it all together, I imagine all other families will too. If life is messy, you’re right were your supposed to be!

Holiness lies in the struggle. My spiritual director while I was in seminary in D.C. told me that the greatest image of holiness was Jacob wrestling with the angel, and I tend to agree with him. It’s not that we give into chaos, but that we acknowledge the simple reality that we live outside of the Garden. And the struggle is real and chaos is breaking down the door.

The family as such is being beaten to a pulp in our society. Nearly half of all marriages in this country, statistically, end in divorce. The rate goes up in a second marriage. Homosexual “marriage,” having been legally ratified and enjoying large public consent, has done irreparable damage to the next generation’s understanding of what marriage is, what sex is, and more. Marriage is the bedrock of the family. When that is wrecked, the rest of the family becomes collateral damage. Contraception and pornography have crippled people’s ability to be emotionally and spiritually invested in a marital relationship. All of these and more result in the fact that 15 million children in this country grow up with out a father and 20 million without a mother (LifeSite News). The family is being broken down and an attempt is being made to remold it in the likeness of our broken and selfish desires. Promiscuity, drugs, underage drinking, immodesty and relativism… The struggle is real. The chaos is present.

But just as the Holy Family made their way through this world, up Calvary and on to glory, so must we as well. Hope for our families lies primarily in two places: grace and example. Through the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Paschal Sacrifice, “God became man so that man might become God” (St. Athanasius). Grace, God’s presence and action, has the ability, if we are willing to cooperate, to lift us out of our brokenness and allow us to be more than we ever dreamed. There is in fact freedom from selfishness, lust, greed, and pride. Just as surely as death was conquered upon the Cross, so it is with vice. In the same vein though, don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you went to confession and pray that you will not be tempted and won’t continue to fall. But sin is the conscious rejection of God’s grace; it’s a choice. Which do we love more? Only with God’s assistance can we make the choice to struggle against the chaos present and He continually offers it. His grace, obtained through prayer and the sacraments (plug for frequent reception of Holy Communion), will help us make our way through the craziness of this world, out of exile, and to our eternal home in Heaven.

Example is the other place we find hope for the family. The Holy Family sets the bar. Each member of the family was entirely focused on one thing: love; love of God and love of neighbor. Joseph’s obedience to God in caring for Mary and Jesus show us his incredible trust and love of the Father. The result of his relationship with God was a blessing to all the world. Mary’s Fiat, her visit to Elizabeth, her assistance for the couple at the Wedding Feast at Cana, and her presence at the Cross, remind us of the constant need to reach outside of ourselves. Mary teaches us that our love and trust in God must transform into love of neighbor. We must care for others. Christ’s obedience to His heavenly Father’s will in the Incarnation furthermore led to His obedience to Mary and Joseph (who He created before His birth!). This obedience shows us that humility and authentic submission lead to peace and tranquility. Their example is a light in the darkness for families today.

I guess in all of this, what I’m trying to say is that the Feast of the Holy Family shows us God is with us. That’s the whole message of Christmas, Christ is Emmanuel: God-with-us. Our families resemble the Holy Family more than we will ever know, or perhaps it’s that the Holy Family resembles ours more than we will ever know. The goal for us, even amidst the onslaught of our culture to destroy our families, is to imitate that Family that is so like ours. It comes down to this: fathers striving for the holiness and leadership of Joseph, mothers striving for the love and service of our Blessed Mother Mary, and children striving for the loving obedience of the Christ-child. So to all of our families, I salute you on the Feast of the Holy Family! Pray and imitate. Be encouraged and of good cheer… God knows every detail of your experience, it was His too!