May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
Almost a week ago, we celebrated the Nativity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. After four weeks of
preparation in the season of Advent we were welcomed to the manger at
Bethlehem. Today we celebrate the feast
of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and we are invited to the Temple in Jerusalem
some twelve years after the birth of the Lord Jesus.
Perhaps right now your house looks a lot like my
rectory. There is stuff everywhere. There are the remnants of Christmas
celebrations: pieces of wrapping paper, several cards that were sent to me,
several cards that I intended to send, and delicious and delectable deserts
that I will promise never to eat again after the beginning of the New Year.
And yet, in the midst of all of the celebrations and the
travelling we are invited to cast our gaze on the Holy Family and look to them
as the model of family life. Our
readings today from the prophet Sirach and the Apostle Paul speak to us about the
beauty of family life and the conduct of a household that lives by the law of
love in Christ Jesus. However these
readings only apply to some of us. The
feast of the Holy Family is not a feast only for some of us. The feast of the Holy Family is a feast for
all of us.
The message of the feast of the Holy Family is that this is
our feast day. By the will of God our
Loving Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have all been made members
of the Holy Family in Christ Jesus.
Through his words and his glorious cross, the Lord Jesus extended the
meaning of family beyond the bonds of blood.
For he himself has told us that everyone who hears the word of God and
keeps it is his brother and sister and mother.
From the cross, the Lord Jesus entrusted his Blessed Mother to his
beloved Apostle John with the words, “Son, Behold your mother.” And after his glorious resurrection, he told
Mary Magdalene to go and tell his brothers that he was going ahead of them to
Galilee. He had never called them his
brothers before. Jesus Christ, in whom
all things are made new, has extended the meaning of family, and made us all
members of the Holy Family in him.
Because we have been
united to one family through our baptism into Christ Jesus, the Holy Family
extends beyond all distance as well. Wherever
the Eucharist is celebrated and wherever the Blessed Sacrament is reserved,
wherever the members of the Holy Family gather in prayer, then the distance that
separates us falls away in the unity that is ours in Christ Jesus. Wherever we go, through the celebration of
the sacred mysteries in the Church, we are always meeting more relatives in our
family.
And we can be confident, dear brothers and sisters, that the
Holy Family transcends not only blood and not only distance. The Holy Family transcends even the bounds of
death. For Christ our Savior has
conquered sin and death by the blood of his holy cross and he has promised
eternal life to all those who are united to him. But at this time of year, amid the joys and
the celebrations, we often feel the pain of death and loss rather
intensely. As we gather for meals around
the table, it is hard not to notice that there are chairs that are empty. But my dear brothers and sisters, there are
no empty chairs at the banquet of the Holy Family. There are no empty chairs because the table
extends beyond even death. Here on earth
we celebrate a foretaste of the feast to come.
Every day in the celebration of the Eucharist we are invited to be
united more and more to Jesus Christ and the banquet of the Kingdom of
Heaven. We pray with our Holy Family on
earth and with the members of the Holy Family that the Lord has called unto
himself.
As we now enter into the mystery of the Lord’s love and the
feast of the Kingdom, we celebrate our place in the Holy Family that extends
beyond blood, and distance and even death.
On this feast of the Holy Family, on our feast day, we join with the
choirs of angels and the citizens of heaven above, and proclaim: Glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace to people of good will. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
