Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, which is rightly portrayed as a model of virtue. It will stay so until the end of times. Thanks to their supreme example of faith and love, families in our times can aspire to grow in wisdom and divine favour against all odds, if only we fulfil God’s precepts and labour honourably.
In the First Reading (Gen 15: 1-6, 21: 1-3), Abraham and Sarah appear as precursors to the Holy Family of Nazareth. Abraham was tenth in the descent from Noah and, like him, kept his faith. When directed to leave his native Ur of the Chaldees (near present-day Baghdad) for Canaan, Abraham did so ungrudgingly. God promised to make him the father of His people Israel, and they would multiply like the stars of heaven. However, until a decade later, he was still childless. His overaged wife, anxious to accomplish the Abrahamic covenant, permitted her Egyptian slave Hagar to sleep with Abraham, and she bore him a child, Ishmael.[i]
When Ishmael was fourteen, Sarah, who was ninety-nine, and her centenarian husband, gave birth to Isaac. This could only happen through Sarah’s faith, as the Second Reading (Heb 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19) emphasises. Years later, the near-sacrifice of the same Isaac on Mount Moriah would be another highpoint of the couple’s faithful obedience to God’s Word. How was Abraham expected to sacrifice his only son, who was destined to continue the family line? The Letter to the Hebrews very perceptively states: “He [Abraham] was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.”
God speaks to us in myriad ways, sometimes in paradoxes, to test our faith. His ways are not ours; his logic is not ours. Yet, faith is not blind obedience to random demands from human institutions but a willing surrender to God’s will; it is an interior disposition rooted in the certainty that God, who is ever faithful, fulfils His promises. There are scores of things that we fail to make sense of at first; they are neither of our making nor of our liking, but there comes a point when everything begins to fall into perspective and we feel at peace. So, even if the world mocks at us and we feel helpless, let it be; like Chesterton’s Donkey, we ought to keep our secret nonetheless.
Today’s Gospel text (Lk 2: 22-40) presents two other wise individuals who lived by faith. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon, the last prophet of the Old Testament, that he would not die before seeing “the consolation of Israel.” So, when he recognised the Messiah on the day of the purification, he sighed: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace… for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” And likewise, the elderly widow Anna spoke of Him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
The ending of today’s Gospel text evokes the joy of innocence: “And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. Furthermore, the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon Him.” It was not their will, but God’s will that mattered. Jesus was higher than the structures and rites of the Temple, yet He submitted Himself to the Mosaic law regarding the first-borns. That is a picture of a religious duty properly fulfilled by parents who serve as living examples of faith and integrity to the younger generations. Like Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna also belong to the small remnant of Israel who live their faith in humility and faithfulness to God’s law. In our day and age, alas, we too are a small remnant, aren’t we?
May God grant such gratifying experiences to every parent and child in our world filled with uncertainty and turmoil. Isn’t it absurd that the awful spectre of war should loom over God’s own country that gave birth to the Prince of Peace? However, this paradox can be resolved when we seek the theology of history. God forever upholds His covenant with us if we remember, as Abraham and Sarah did, that He is our God and we fulfil the law. They conceived, achieving what two dudes never will, try as they might!
The remarkable example of the Holy Family of Nazareth has perhaps never been more pertinent than today. It speaks not to individual families alone but to the world as a whole; it speaks not to the domestic church alone but to the Universal Church. Let us realise that, even though pious appeals are issued to families to aspire for holiness, the very institution of the family, which is the basic unit of society, is on the point of being destroyed by the stroke of a Vatican pen[ii]…. However, we are not to lose hope, for popular wisdom has it that God writes straight with crooked lines.
[i] Ishmael and his mother Hagar left to chart a future of their own.
[ii] Cf. the controversial Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans of December 2023.
Pela minha ignorância surge-me a reflexão sobre Israel que era a tribo escolhida por Deus mas eles não acreditaram no Menino Jesus e por isso ainda esperam pela vinda do Cristo como seu Rei para eles governarem o planeta terra. Para nós cristãos Cristo virá novamente à terra já vitorioso sobre toda a maldade que medra nesta terra. Será que é assim como eu penso ?
Parece que não existe só uma crença judaica sobre a Redenção. Há quem acredite que o Messias virá; outros até acham que não será em pessoa. Em todo o caso, para nós será a Segunda Vinda, para eles, a primeira.
Óscar, When you refer to “the Family…on the point of being destroyed by the stroke of Vatican pen…”, I presume you are referring to the recent decision to bless same sex unions, in certain circumstances. It is understandable that there is disagreement on this as it runs against tradition etc. As a Catholic I too had to decide where I stood on this issue. The question I asked was – what would Jesus do? The answer came in two steps: 1. I reminded myself that NO ONE is gay/lesbian by choice; they are born that way. Hence, they ARE children of GOD (not of a lesser god) just as anybody else. 2. What do the Gospels say? John 8:11 came to mind, where Jesus gives his answer to the mob that brought the adulterous woman to Him. What I find unhelpful, however, in the decision about same sex unions is that it is timid. And for good reason i.e. one small step at a time. I take comfort in knowing that when we transgress, God’s pardon is there not for the asking, but for the taking!
Allow me to Thank You for your weekly reflections on the Liturgy of the Day. Your erudition makes the topics eminently inspiring.
Blessings in the New Year on your Work and on your Household. Abraço/a
Dear António, thank you for your New Year greetings. Let me wish you and your dear Family a blessed year ahead.
As regards the document Fiducia Supplicans: it runs against basic Catholic doctrine. And what would Jesus do, you ask. I think He would do what He once did in the Temple, or even more than that… We all know what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah. This document looks like a foot in the door towards promoting, legalising, homosexuality.
As regards treatment of gays, or anyone for that matter, the Church has always provided the healing touch. But we cannot take God’s forgiveness for granted. To the adulterous woman that you cite, He said, ‘Sin no more!’ That’s important, acknowledging the sin and wanting to change course.
Dear António, quite obviously the proverbial Temple whip would more likely be used first against those teaching the wrong doctrine!