Feast of the Holy Family
Sacred vs Scared
Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We see this family as holy – Jesus as the Son of God Incarnate, Mary as His Blessed Mother, and Joseph as the husband of Mary and the earthly father of Jesus. And so this feast honors them, not only as individuals, but as a family.
At the same time, especially in light of what is going on in our world, this feast reminds us that God sees all families, in fact the entire human family, as sacred. If we were to recognize God’s love for every person and every family, we might wonder what holds us back from following the words of St. Paul in our second reading (Colossians 3:12-21): “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” To do this can be a challenge within one’s family, but these attitudes seem to be in short supply when it comes into political, cultural, ethnic, or religious differences.
What holds us back, then, from compassion for those considered “other?”
I wonder if it has to do with the same motivation that Herod had to destroy Jesus, which we hear about in our Gospel reading (Matthew 3:13-15, 19-23). Herod acted out of fear and lust for power. He was afraid that this newborn baby would be seen as the king of the Jews, and he wanted to remain as king. So he ordered all of the infant and toddler boys in the area to be killed.
Fear is not always the wrong response. Jospeh was told to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt. But we have seen, time and time again, throughout the history of the world, and even the church, when fear casts out love, bad things happen; evil occurs. When we become afraid that another’s gain is our loss, we can give into prejudice and discrimination, and even violence. When we get scared of what might happen to us if we let “them” in, we do our utmost to push “them” out, or get rid of “them” entirely.
Many people have pointed out during this Advent and Christmas season that the Holy Family were refugees, like literally millions of people today, fleeing for their lives into Egypt.
When the Church has been scared of what might happen to the institution instead of what might happen to its mission, abuses can be overlooked, or an inadequate response is made.
In our first reading from Sirach (3:2-7, 12-14), it says “My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life.” Sometime people can be afraid of seeing their elderly parents in a state of need, when they are used to seeing their parents as ones who took care of others. And sometimes this fear leads to neglect. They just don’t want to deal with it. They’re afraid of facing reality.
In the English language, you can switch the position of two letters, and turn “sacred” into “scared.” May we not let fear cast out love, but receive God’s love into our hearts, and let that love cast out the fear which holds us back from loving each other, even those who are different from us.
May we not be scared, but hold others as sacred.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thank you for your time.
Merry Christmas (It’s still Christmas season), and a Blessed New Year!
In Christ, Our Savior Born to Us,
Phil, CP
