Feast of Holy Family (B) [Lk
2:22-40]
31.12.2023
Presentation
of Jesus in the
1. Theme in brief
Longing for God’s
salvation in our families
2. Focus Statement
Like the Holy Family of
3. Explanation of
the text
Today’s
gospel text portrays the parents of Jesus as faithful observers of the Law of Moses regarding
purification of the mother after childbirth and presentation of the firstborn
male child as holy to the Lord (2:22-23). When they bring the Child to the
Simeon
takes the Child Jesus in his arms and not only praises God for fulfilling his
hope but also announces Jesus’ identity and mission. He identifies him as the universal Saviour,
because through him now salvation has come not only to the Jews but to all
peoples (2:31). The Divine Child in his arms is born not only to give glory to
the chosen people of God (that is,
Next,
Simeon predicts about the Child’s future mission and its implications for his
Mother Mary (2:34). He foretells that this Child is destined to be opposed and rejected by
his own people. Besides, a ‘sword’ of suffering and trials will pierce the heart of Mary because of this Child (2:35). Hence, Mary herself
is destined to be a partner in the suffering and agony that her Child will have
to undergo in future for the redemption of all. In other words, Simeon already
announces Mary’s participation in the passion and cross of Christ before she is brought to the
glory of his resurrection.
Finally,
Luke’s gospel portrays the Holy Family of Nazareth as the place where Jesus grows
in strength, wisdom and God’s favour (2:40). Luke wants to tell his
readers that the Holy Family provides the context and atmosphere in which the
Divine Child grows into maturity – physical, mental and spiritual.
4. Application to
life
As
we celebrate the feast of Holy Family, today’s gospel tells us that the Son of
God, when he was born in a family, did not claim any special privilege for himself.
He, as well as his parents humbly submitted themselves to all the human
and religious laws like any other ordinary people. This example of the Holy
Family makes us regret for the times we claimed special treatment for ourselves or
took pride
in our privileged position in our family because of our better contribution or
higher salary for the family’s income or all-round progress. We often forget
how mutually
dependant we are on one another in the family for various services
from the moment of rising from bed to going to bed. As humans, knowingly or
unknowingly, we do hurt one another in our family now and then. Sometimes our
lack of humility
prevents us from admitting our faults and hurtful behaviour. It leads us to justify
our wrongdoings and create further hurt feelings. We hardly realize how much of
love is destroyed or lost due to this kind of behaviour. We should have an intense desire
to be freed from this kind of pride and self-sufficiency. Before we “depart from this
world in peace,” do we have the dream (aim) to “see salvation” or liberation from
this kind of
pride, as Simeon wished (2:29-30)?
The
pair of turtle doves (instead of a lamb) brought by Joseph and Mary for
sacrificial offering indicates their inability to offer a lamb due to their poverty.
Besides, the old age of Simeon and Anna and the latter’s widowhood further reinforce the
message of God taking the side of the poor and the helpless as he is born in the
context of a family of
Like
Joseph and Mary, and Simeon and Anna, our Christian family is called to be righteous
and devout.
Like Simeon, in our family we too should have an intense desire to meet the Lord and
experience his salvation, first of all in daily family prayer, reading or
listening to and reflecting on the Word of God. By doing so, Jesus himself
becomes the unseen
guest in our family whose hidden presence we feel in our joys and
sorrows, success and failure, disappointment and frustration, tension and
suffering. Our family becomes Christian only when we lay its foundation on the
solid Rock
(that is, Christ himself) and give priority to establishment of his Kingdom or
his gospel-values,
such as genuine love for one another, care, concern, sacrifice and forgiveness.
As
Simeon foretold about the rise and fall of many in Israel on account of
Jesus (2:34), our family too will rise to a higher level of harmony
if all of us seriously try to live by Jesus’ values, and will fall to a low
level of disharmony and lovelessnes if we do not care for any of his
values. It is right and fitting to examine whether our house is primarily a
warehouse or storehouse of ornaments, utensils, machinery, gadgets, furniture,
bank deposits and insurance policy’s documents, or a place of genuinely human
and warm relationships.
May be we work so hard for the former and neglect to work on equal footing for
the latter. Like Simeon we should long to see salvation coming to our family.
This happens when the gospel-values are firmly established in
The spirituality of a Christian
family consists in offering of itself to the Lord, as Jesus and Mary offered Child Jesus in the
If living this daily consecration is applicable to all Christian families, how much more should it be for religious communities of persons belonging to consecrated life! Pope Francis, in his special letter to the Religious in the Year of Consecrated Life (2014 - 2016) wrote that joy in religious communities is strengthened by the experience of fraternity, where everyone shares the responsibility for the others' fidelity to the Gospel and their growth. He says that a joyless fraternity and a lack of tenderness are the signs of a dying fraternity. Pope Francis further says that living a life of fragmentation and a sterile individualism in religious communities leads to the weakening of relationships and undermines care for one another. This sterile individualism and superficial relationships has affected not only natural families but also religious communities. The result is the unexpressed attitude: “You-do-your-work, I-do-my-work” and “let us co-exist peacefully”. We feel disheartened to see traditional family values which we cherished so much such as mutual sharing, adjustment and collaboration, sacrifice of one’s own comforts, personal care and joyful togetherness are gradually eroding both in natural families and religious communities.
Today, as Simeon prophesized to Mary, we see a sword of suffering, anxiety, fear, humiliation and disgrace piercing the hearts of many parents when their children go astray and become victims of crime, terrorism, addictions (such as drugs/alcoholism) and delinquent behaviour. The same thing happens when some of them stop practising their faith or turn out to be agnostics or atheists. In many traditional families of some regions of the world where love-marriages and inter-faith or inter-caste marriages are tabooed, parents and elders feel (rightly or wrongly) that their hearts are pierced by their children when they break this social taboo. They not only face social disapproval but also a loss of their family’s honour or reputation. Even when their children do very good service to society or become social/religious reformers, like Jesus, they become victims of misunderstanding and opposition. Mary’s pierced heart symbolizes all the agony, which the parents have to undergo in these moments. Mary teaches them how to accept God’s will and surrender the whole situation to God, when it does not change in spite of hard efforts. Whenever there is a clash of tradition and modernity, both parents and young children need humility to enter into a continual dialogue.
Like the family of
5. Response to God's Word
Do
we have an intense desire to see salvation from all kinds of pride and
self-sufficiency in our family? Do we recognize a hunger for love and care in
our family? What are our attitudes towards the aged, elderly, sick, bedridden,
widowed and disabled members of our family? Are they properly taken care of, or
neglected? Do we give priority to establishment of Christ’s gospel-values, such
as genuine love for one another, care, concern, sacrifice and forgiveness in
our family? Have sterile individualism and superficial
relationships crept into our family? Do we try to discover God’s will, or his
plans for our family, and help one another to live according to it? What are
the special ritual and customs we have introduced in our families or would like
do at home in order to promote togetherness, mutual collaboration, sharing and
protection from evil?
6. A prayer
Jesus,
by your birth in the Holy Family of Nazareth, you have sanctified the families
of those who put their faith and trust in you. Grant that we may experience
salvation from all types of selfishness and individualism that kill the family
spirit among us. Give us the patience and strength to care for the sick and the
aged in our family. As you grew in strength, wisdom and
God’s favour in the Holy Family, give us wisdom to bring up our children in
this model. Once again,
we renew our baptismal consecration to God through you and resolve to give
priority to your gospel-values in our family. Be with us in our joys and sorrows, struggles and trials, problems and hardships,
so that our offering may be holy and acceptable to you. Amen.
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