The Holy Family of Jesus Homily

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

By Rev. Rudolf Offori

The regular presence of parents is a constant assurance of safety for every young child. The family, no matter what its shortcomings, is the fundamental human connection. There are flaws in every human connection, but even the most fragile families tend to be more supportive to a young child than an institutional upbringing. No matter how much the institution cares, it can never replace the natural bond between mother and child. We know that the warm, intimate relationship the child has with his or her mother is essential for the growth of the child’s inner life. This is not to underestimate the role of the father; it is simple to admit the truth that in most homes it is still the mother who feeds and cleans her young child, keeps her child warm, comforts her child in distress. Above all it is the mother who is there for the young child. Parents are the first teachers of love; their attachment to their children shows them that they are worthy of love, shows them how to love. It is very hard for a child to grow up without the caring support of that attachment. And Luke shows us in today’s Gospel how the parents of Jesus fulfil the requirements of their religious tradition, and how the child Jesus grows in wisdom and maturity under their care.  From the mutual love between Mary and Joseph and from their love of him, the child Jesus will be schooled in love and grow in the security of their attachment to him. To know the meaning of love, Jesus will only have to consult his experience.

 That love will give him the security and the freedom which will enable him to become himself, and although he is more than Mary and Joseph can ever give him, their influence on him can never be underestimated. The time will come when Jesus, like all children, must separate himself from his family to make his own way in life; but as a child he is wholly dependent on the love that is offered from his own family. That is the glory and the limit of his humanity. In remembering the Holy Family, we look to our own family in gratitude for what we have received. The feast of the Holy Family we celebrate today is not an old one; it was introduced to the whole Church in 1921. the Christian family has been celebrated by all who care to admit their indebtedness to it as the lively place where they were at home with God and an assortment of weird and wonderful relatives. In the Christian family we learn that God never comes alone; God is always accompanied by a legion of others who, in their own shy and halting way, show us something of God’s loving kindness. In the Christian family we can catch something of the God who accepts us as we are and who keeps on loving us stubbornly to the end.

None of our families is all holy; each is a mixture of all sorts of conflicts, compulsions and craziness that tests our love and forgiveness. But in the midst of all that, there is God. There is no other place to find God. It is the place where God found us.