The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Jan 13 2025

Becoming a Holy Family

Today’s Gospel story reveals that God’s Son was born into a dangerous world. From the beginning, those in power saw the child as a threat. Herod was a ruthless king. Because Joseph listened to his dream, the child was saved from Herod’s murderous rage. The parents of Jesus played a crucial role in God’s plan from the beginning.

The Christmas season is traditionally a time for families getting together and enjoy each other’s company. But this doesn’t always happen because divisions occur even within families. Today’s feast invites us to reflect on what holds a family together and what loosens and even destroys the family bond. How does the mystery of the Incarnation, of Christ being born in us in our own day, enter into the dynamics of family life? The first two readings provide a focus on the family.

While Sirach focuses on the honor and respect that children owe their parents, Colossians also urges fathers—and mothers—not to discourage their children. And the relationship between husbands and wives is to be marked by mutual love and respect. The call for wives to be “subordinate” is an unfortunate choice of words, given today’s reality of spousal abuse.

At the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation is that all our relationships should bring the presence of Christ to the world. We do this when we put on the virtues of compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and, above all, love. When these are found in family life, then Christ once again is born in our family.

Consider/Discuss

Do you think that the Holy Family was a perfect family?
What makes for a holy family in our day?

Responding to the Word

We can pray for all families in our world, families of blood and families of choice. We pray for the family of nations, especially where division has resulted in hatred and violence. We pray for the virtues that will draw us closer together in the Church so the world may see us clearly as part of God’s family.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Sirach is instruction about family life, identifying the kind of living that results in family harmony. As wisdom instruction, Sirach lists the blessings that follow such a way of life. The child who respects and obeys both father and mother is promised life itself, remission of sins, riches, the blessing of children, and the answer to prayer. The entire teaching about respect for parents takes on a completely different perspective when we remember that it is addressed to an adult offspring, not a youth.

Paul’s exhortation to virtuous living is introduced with the stated rationale for such a manner of life. Because Christians are God’s chosen, holy and beloved, they should act accordingly. The virtues themselves are all relational, directed toward others, requiring unselfish sensitivity. While the author still insists that wives must be subject to their husbands, he instructs the husbands to act toward their wives with love and thoughtfulness. Children are still told to obey their parents, but fathers are advised to be moderate in the training of their children lest discipline become oppressive. This means that in Christ, the relationships between man and woman and child have been radically altered.

The Gospel reading consists of two discrete narratives, the flight to Egypt and the return. They contain many echoes of the Exodus tradition. The family’s flight into Egypt, precipitated by the hatred of Herod, recalls Joseph’s escape to that same land because of the hatred of his brothers. Both the Holy Family and the family of Jacob/Israel remained in Egypt until the death of a ruler persuaded them to return to their land of origin. Just as Israel’s return resulted in its being shaped into the “people of God,” so Jesus returns to his homeland, there eventually to establish the reign of God. This reading emphasizes the early Christians’ belief that the active presence of God directed the events in the life of Jesus.

Jan 07 2025

Scripture Study for

Traditional biblical wisdom holds that order and stability promote human flourishing. Here the focus is on family roles and what is due to each member of the household: Duty toward parents is a common Wisdom trope, appearing often in Proverbs. Sirach reflects in particular on the challenge of dealing with an elderly parent, and closely binds duty toward God with honoring parents. It is God who set the father and mother over the family; honoring one’s parents brings favor from God. At the same time, the language of comfort, consideration, and kindness points to a sense that caring for one’s parents is ultimately grounded in basic human decency as much as the hope of divine reward.

The emphasis in the second reading is on decent behavior toward all, which reflects one’s experience of having been transformed by Christ. Precisely as “God’s chosen ones,” who have put away “earthly” vices (Colossians 3:5–10) and been transformed in Christ, Christians should behave in a manner that reflects the character of God, who is compassionate, patient, forgiving, and loving. Marked by these traits, those gathered around Christ support each other, learning together from him and strengthening each other through admonishment, common worship, and especially gratitude. In the final section the writer exhorts his listeners to honor the family order as ordained by God. Christian family life also is to be marked by mutual care, without bitterness, provocation, or discouragement.

In the Gospel reading, Joseph fulfills his duty as protector of God’s Son and his mother. Jesus’ vulnerability is highlighted by six references to him as “child.” Prompted three times, Joseph responds with quick obedience. Not only does Joseph lead mother and child away from danger, his actions also allow for the fulfillment of prophecy. The more significant of these is the first, from Hosea (11:1), which refers to the redemption of Israel, God’s son (Exodus 4:22), from Egypt. It is applied now to Jesus, God’s Son, as exemplar and perfect representative of Israel.

Jan 07 2025

The Eyes Have It

I never get quite enough Christmas. Liturgically, this week we are still singing Christmas songs. Poinsettias still decorate the altar. Yet we have already abandoned the infancy stories. In today’s reading, Joseph uproots his family to flee to Egypt to keep the holy child safe. Does the glow of “Silent Night, Holy Night” have to dissolve into the shadows quite so quickly?

Jesus was born into a messy world. In my mind, I know that. In my heart, I don’t want that.

A glimmer of insight came to me when I noticed a painting by Federico Barocci. In the Rest on the Flight to Egypt (c.1570), Mary sits in the center of the Holy Family. She looks to the left, as though to draw attention away from herself. St. Joseph hovers above her. He reaches out his fingers to place a twig into the fist of Jesus, a chubby toddler. The leading line in the painting is that connection between father and son. The dawning sun rises in the background. That light is reflected in the bearded man’s eyes as they shimmer with tenderness for the child. The eyes of the baby gleam back with love. A placid donkey looks on. Had they just barely escaped Herod’s bloodbath? Is there anxiety in Joseph’s heart? This paints a picture of calm. Jesus doesn’t look old enough to talk, but he shoots Joseph a playful grin as though to say, “Daddy, don’t worry. We are here together.”

In mutual love, there is calm amidst the messiness—holy rest, Christmas peace. It doesn’t fade away. We find it in family. We find it in friendship. We find it in the solidarity of community. We find it in Jesus’ gleam: “Don’t worry. We are in this together.”

Consider/Discuss

We yearn for peace, but life can be messy. What is in Jesus’ eyes when he looks at us? How can we be enveloped by Christmas peace through that loving gaze?
Much of togetherness is communicated with the eyes, both in family relationships and in friendship. Storytellers suggest looking at people with two seconds of loving eye contact. Try that tender attention this week and see how family and friends respond.

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus our Savior, you lived through all of the messiness of human life. You know more of trauma than we could ever imagine. Yet you have not abandoned us. You are here. You are with us. Help us to put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, and love, especially in our families. Strengthen the bond of perfection in all of our relationships. This flight of faith is challenging. We cannot do it without you. Thank you for abiding with us and surrounding us with your gleam of love.

Dec 13 2024

Jesus, Family Man

If you were to choose an adjective to accompany “family,” what would it be? Holy? Or is it more likely to be “dysfunctional”? If culture reflects reality, our greatest American playwrights hold up families falling apart as the norm: Eugene O’Neil’s Tyrone family, Tennessee Williams’ haunted Southern siblings, Arthur Miller’s Willie and Linda Loman and sons, and, most recently, the families of Tracy Lett’s August: Osage County and Jon Rabin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities. Behold, the American family!

And yet, granting that every family, like every person, is imperfect and on occasion wounds each other in both small and big ways, we do find holiness in families. It is the holiness that we see in Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, who cared for and respected each other, a holiness that witnesses to the power of God’s grace at work in hearts open to it.

In today’s Gospel we see this gracious care in the worry of parents who could not find their son. We hear it in Mary’s anxious words to Jesus, in Jesus’ fidelity to his dual parentage—earthly and heavenly—and in the simple statement that “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”

As members of the human family, imperfect and even sinful, we too are graced with a capacity for “advancing in wisdom and age and favor before God and one another.” Each of us is called to holiness, to a fullness of being made possible by being open to the loving touch of God’s grace made visible in the Incarnation.

Consider/Discuss

Do Mary, Joseph, and Jesus have anything to teach us about what it means to be family?
What does it mean to be a “holy family”? Is it a matter of doing “holy” actions, or saying “holy” words?

Responding to the Word

Loving Father, you have created all who have ever lived in your image and likeness. Help us to recognize all others as our brothers and sisters and to honor, respect, forgive, and love them as your children. Together, enable us to bring your peace and justice, healing and reconciliation to our world.