of the Holy Family
Dec. 29, 2013
Matt 2:
13-15, 19-23St. Theresa, Bronx, N.Y.
“The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream…” (Matt 2: 13).
In today’s short reading from St. Matthew’s
Gospel, St. Joseph has 3 dreams in which an “angel of the Lord” appears to him
to warn or instruct him about what he needs to do in order to protect Jesus,
1st as an infant some months, even a year, after his birth, then as a child
after King Herod’s death, which, as a matter of history, occurred in 4 B.C.
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| The Flight into Egypt by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps |
Today’s feast of the Holy Family draws our
attention to family relationships, to mutual respect and reverence, to care and
compassion, to obedience. These virtues
and these relationships are our path to holiness, to the place in our Father’s
house that the Collect speaks of: that
by imitating Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, the Holy Family, by “practicing the
virtues of family life,” we might “delight one day in eternal rewards in the
joy of [God’s] house.”
To attain such joy, to practice such virtues as
proper care, mutual respect, and obedience, we need divine guidance in the ups
and downs—and sometimes sideways—of daily life.
It’s most unlikely that “the angel of the Lord” will come to us in a
dream or vision. How, then, does God
speak to us, whether we’re parents or grandparents, young marrieds or singles,
students or adolescents or pre-teens?
God’s word is living and active, the Letter to the
Hebrews tells us (4:12). God speaks to
us in his living word, the sacred Scriptures—those we hear in church from week
to week, those we’re encouraged to read on our own day by day; not just to hear
them read or to read privately or in a study group, but to ponder, reflect
upon, and seek connections with our own lives.
In a recent issue of Columbia, the monthly magazine of
the Knights of Columbus, one writer tells us that he has learned, “If you have
patience and listen, you learn God’s purpose for you.”[1] Prayer—listening to God and speaking to him—is
a vital part, an essential part, of our family lives.
St. Joseph acted to protect his family. How does a parent today protect his or her
family? Not by fleeing to Egypt—or to a
log cabin in the wilderness. One commentary
observes: “it means teaching [our
children] and training them in the ways of God.
If we can protect and teach our children—especially in the early,
developmental years (and later in their lives as well)—they will grow in their
ability to make decisions based on the truths of the gospel.”[2]
St. Joseph used his common sense. He paid attention to his instincts: “when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over
Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there” (2:22)—with
good reason. Archelaus was the cruelest
and most arrogant of Herod’s surviving sons, which even the Romans (no models
of gentleness) recognized when they did not grant him the title of king that
his father had held, only “ethnarch,” ruler of the nation; and after 10 years
of his harsh and incompetent governance, they were compelled to depose him and
send him into exile.
According to Matthew, the Holy Family had lived in
Bethlehem (cf. 2:11), and that would’ve been St. Joseph’s preferred
destination. But with Archelaus in
charge, St. Joseph looked for another place to go. The last dream directed him to Galilee, and
the family settled in Nazareth (2:22-23).
Parents—all family members, in fact—need common
sense in their interactions and decisions.
We need to consult our feelings and our experience, our knowledge of the
world around us and the people around us, in addition to prayer and careful
thought, when we have to make important decisions about our families (or
anything else that’s important).
We also see in today’s gospel that St. Joseph was
flexible. While it seems that he’d have
preferred to go back to what St. Luke refers to as his ancestral hometown (2:4)
and St. Matthew sees as the family’s settled abode (cf. 2:11), viz., Bethlehem,
he was ready to do otherwise in the name of prudence, good judgment, and of
course obedience to what God wished. Our
happiness and that of our families, likewise, often depends upon a willingness
to change our minds, to change our plans in accord with new information or
developments, the wishes of others, or a deeper listening to the commands of
God.
So does St. Joseph present us with what the
Collect calls a “shining example,” in harmony with Mary his wife and Jesus his
foster son. It’s an example that all of
us can imitate as we try to live, even now, as members of God’s household yet
looking toward a more permanent and more joyful residence in our Father’s
eternal home.
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