Homily for Feast of the Holy Family

Homily for the Feast of
The Holy Family

Dec. 31, 2023
Collect
Gen 15: 1-6; 21: 1-3
Heb 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19
Luke 2: 22-40
The Fountains, Tuckahoe              
Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

The Holy Family (Noel Halle)

In the collect this morning, we prayed that God our Father might grant us the grace of “practicing the virtues of family life” like the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, including the “bonds of charity.”  By doing so, “one day” we shall attain “eternal rewards” in God’s house as members of God’s family.

What are the virtues of family life?  The readings that we heard suggest several.  The 1st is prayer.  We heard Abram—eventually to be renamed Abraham—dialog with God.  Talking to God and listening to God is prayer.  Abram speaks frankly with God about not having a son and listens then to God’s extravagant promise.  Abram’s example suggests to us to bring our desires, our hopes, our joys, and our troubles to God—or to the saints, God’s friends.  Then in our hearts we listen to what God may tell us, perhaps aided by reading the Scriptures, the Word of God.  God speaks to us thru the Bible, and we need to read it and let it sink into our hearts.

The 2d virtue we observe in Abram and in his wife Sarah is faith.  They believed what God told them in spite of any reasonable objection, like their age and Sarah’s apparent sterility.  The reading from Hebrews also alluded to God’s testing Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac.  That seems horrible beyond words.  Thru this episode God not only reinforced Abraham’s faith but also taught him and his descendants that he doesn’t want human sacrifice, which is something many ancient peoples practiced.  And before we condemn such people, we ought to look at how our “civilized” societies butcher unborn human beings in the womb and how they tolerate all sorts of violence inflicted on innocent people thru war, forced migration, and human trafficking.  What is God’s will in our relationships with people?  How can we put his will into practice?  What does faith in God motivate us to do?  Within our families, how does our faith in God’s goodness and care for us affect how we speak to one another, treat one another, support one another?  Do our opinions or our pride cause us to sacrifice someone’s well-being?  Do couples have enuf faith in God to keep all their marital activity open to life?

A 3d family virtue presented in today’s Scriptures is piety or devotion.  Mary and Joseph are attentive to the law of Moses and carry out what it commands.  Likewise, Simeon and Anna are righteous and devout, frequenting the Temple, looking for God’s presence in their lives, and making him known to others.  So our families worship God in church, are reverent in church, pay attention to such laws as fasting before Communion and during Lent, and we make our faith known in our families and among others, e.g., by instructing our children in the faith, by saying grace before meals, by crediting God for blessings we receive.

The 2d aspect of the collect was our prayer that we might imitate the Holy Family “in the bonds of charity.”  Charity means authentic love—love for the members of our family and for other people:  our neighbors, our fellow parishioners, people we work with or go to school with, people we meet in our day-to-day lives, people in need anywhere.  We show our love for family and for others by courtesy and respect, by helpfulness, by generosity, by patience, by forgiveness, by carrying out our responsibilities, and in numerous other ways—not in heroic ways like rushing into danger but in small, ordinary ways.  Mother Teresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”  She also said, “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

Living in the bonds of charity and practicing family virtues unite us to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and set us on our pilgrim journey to the rewards of eternal life.  May our gracious God keep us safely on our journey.