SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS: THE HOLY FAMILY

Readings: First: Sir 3, 3-7, 14-17a; Second: Col 3, 12-21; Gospel: Mt 2, 13-15, 19-23

Theme of the Readings

Father, mother, child, spouses, that is, the family–there could not be another more apt word for this Sunday in which the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. The Gospel insists on the need of parents to be dedicated to their children. Twice Joseph hears the voice of God through an angel telling him: "Get up, take the child and his mother," and Joseph obeys without delay and with joy. The first reading exhorts children to be dedicated to their parents, highlighting the fruits that this will bear: "The one who honors his father obtains forgiveness for his sins, the one who respects his mother gathers treasures." In the letter to the Colossians, St. Paul points out the need for reciprocal dedication: wives to their husbands and husbands to their wives, and children to their parents and parents to their children. Honor, respect, and obedience are the concrete manifestations of a higher reality, which is most proper of the human family, and especially of the Christian family: love.

Doctrinal Message

The family certainly existed before Christianity, that is why being a family and forming a family are situations ruled by universal principles valid for all men. These principles are set forth in different texts of the Old Testament with expressions suitable to the mentality, specific culture, and moment of history. The text in the first reading from the book of Sirach is concerned with the relationship of children to parents: honor and respect, obedience and help, and also tenderness. These are values valid for all, independent of religion, culture, social status, or the variety of historic expressions these values have acquired. Children are and form a family by these values.

The Gospel of St. Matthew looks at the relationship among father, mother, and child. He points to the care of child and of mother as obedience to God, who has shared with the father his "authority." With both parents there is a need for promptness in faithful obedience, prudence in action in finding a stable, secure home for the family. These are the universal functions of parents, valid for all fathers and mothers. There is, however, a NEW element, which is the moving force in Joseph’s life. He does not act impelled by nature (ties of affection, consanguinity, tendencies, etc.), but, rather, he is concerned with the will of God. The question Joseph might well have asked himself could be formulated thus: What does God want me to do to be a good father to Jesus and a good husband to Mary? Through the values already mentioned, but especially because of his desire to do God’s will, Joseph formed a family.

St. Paul dedicates chapter 3 of the letter to the Colossians to explain the fundamental effect of baptism, which is new life in Christ. In Col 3, 17 he says: "Everything you do or say, do it in the name of Jesus, the Lord, giving thanks to God through him." This little verse illumines the text of the liturgy of today, referring to family duties in the members’ relations. The respect of the wife for her husband, the love of the husband for his wife, the obedience of the child to the parents, the goodness of the parents toward their children are common values even in their natural ordering, but Christians must live these values "in the name of Jesus, the Lord, in gratitude to God the Father." The expression "in Christ," "in Jesus the Lord" is set against "in Adam," in two texts of St. Paul. Consequently, the values are the same as in Adam (natural order), but the Spirit that animates them, the moral imperative that issues from that Spirit, and the redemptive efficacy of Christ are new and far superior realities. With this new Spirit, this new imperative and this new efficacy, the parents and the children are and form the family, live as a Christian family.

Pastoral Suggestions

The family values present in the liturgy of today (respect, appreciation, obedience, solicitude, care, and mutual love) continue to be valid in our day. The concrete ways of living these values will be different from the past. In your country, parish, diocese, what are the concrete expressions of these family values? How are love and respect expressed between spouses? How is the obedience of children to their parents and of all to God manifested? What forms does mutual goodness between parents and children take? How is parental prudence revealed in the treatment of children?

We must give thought to the fact that these values are often opposed to the supermarket values of the reigning culture and the mass media. In some cases, for example, what is exalted is the rebellion of children, the confrontation between husband and wife, the little interest taken in children, the excessive interest of possessive parents, or the abandonment of parents by the children in centers for the elderly. In the environment in which we move as priests, what are some of these anti-values? What forms of expression do they usually have?

Faced with this reality, the homily and liturgical admonitions of today allow the priest to inculcate the great family values, all of which can be summarized in sincere and disinterested love, and to point out some concrete ways of expressing and manifesting these values. To alert the faithful to the possible anti-values already in existence that threaten family life, and above all, to insure the faithful understand that the true foundation of all these values is Christ and the real model of the Christian family is the family of Jesus of Nazareth.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].