Feast of the Holy Family Homily
Today, we celebrate the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. A model of family life, but also a model of faith for the family. A faith life is not meant to be separate from family life. A life of faith is meant to be an important part of family life, an indispensable aspect of family life.
God decided that He wanted to enter into our world in human flesh by being born of the Virgin Mary. God chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus. God chose Joseph to be the foster father that would help raise Jesus. As a helpless infant, Jesus relied completely on His human parents for the necessities of life. Sure, He had the protection of His heavenly Father; nevertheless, it was His human parents that provided His daily needs.
What do we see in the actions of the Holy Family? What can we learn from them?
God gave us our families and our Church to help us learn to love – to learn to love God first of all, and to love each other.
This is a model of family life in which each person supports, nourishes, and loves one another. Scripture does not show any difficulties that the Holy Family may have undergone between each person other than the time when Jesus was twelve years old and was lost for three days in the Temple (Lk 2:41-52). There may have been some disagreements from time to time. However, we do not know this for sure. They would have lived an ordinary life. Jesus would grow up and go to school. The family would go to the synagogue to worship. Joseph would have to work to provide for the family’s needs. They would have had to worry about providing food each day. In these aspects, they would have been much like our own families. The Holy Family is still a model of family life that we can look to follow.
The Holy Family is also a model of the kind of faith life that is important to families. Some people may say that, “Of course, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were going to be faithful in the practice of the faith. They consist of the Son of God, the Mother of God (two people who are without sin) and the foster father of the Savior. How could they not be anything but faithful?” This is true. We would expect them to show the example of family life and faith that God would want everyone to follow. However, we know that in every generation there have been some people, even some families, that have fallen away from the faith and no longer practice it. This is true today; and it was true in the time of the Holy Family.
What do we see in the actions of the Holy Family? What can we learn from them? We see that they were faithful in following the precepts of the law. Or, to put it another way, they faithfully followed the will of God regarding the faith. It was important to them to do God’s will. By doing so, they were giving an example for others to follow. This was all part of God’s plan for salvation, and to demonstrate how God would like all of us to live our lives. God is showing that family is important. Unity within the family, loving one another, supporting one another, helping one another grow in the faith, and bringing the newest members of the family to God (such as baptism is for us today) were all part of God’s plan to help us in this life.
Teaching their children the faith, belonging to a Church, and worshipping together are all meant to be integral parts of family life. God began all of this work beginning with Abraham and Sarah. He continued it through the Exodus experience when He had Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt through the desert. God showed Moses how to build the worship space and how to offer sacrifices. We can see a continuation in the worship in Jerusalem when the Temple was built, and sacrifices were offered for the forgiveness of sins. God brought this model of community worship to completion in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and the practice of worship in the early Church.
As in the day of Jesus, many people today may think that “I don’t need to go to church. I am a spiritual person. I don’t need organized religion.” I have to disagree with this way of thinking. The evidence does not support it. How many people that claim to be “spiritual” and do not need organized religion actually spend time praying and worshipping God? When I have asked some of these people how much time do they spend in prayer each day? When they honestly reflect on it, they admit that they don’t spend much time at all praying. When we don’t have someone, or something like organized religion to hold us accountable, then the tendency is to drift away from practicing the faith. The adage, “Out of sight, out of mind,” applies very well here. If we don’t go to church and practice the faith in this way (being out of sight), then it easily follows that we also won’t be thinking about God that often (being out of mind).
God knows this. God knows human nature very well. This is one important reason why God gave us the Church and asks us to be faithful in coming to Mass and practicing the faith. God knows that if we don’t, the chances are very high that we will drift away from the faith. God knows that if we aren’t held accountable by an organized religion and continue to faithfully follow the Church’s teachings, then it’s also most likely that we will stop praying and thinking about God.
There is also a corollary between some people not practicing their faith anymore and the disintegration of the family. Some studies do show that families that pray together and go to church together have a much lower divorce rate and a higher success rate of staying together. Another way of stating this would be: those families that don’t pray together or don’t go to church have a much higher divorce rate and a lower rate of staying together. God knows what He is doing in trying to help our families live in peace and maintain stability.
Unfortunately, the devil knows this too. This is why the devil is attacking marriage and the family. One way that the devil does this is by getting more people to think that praying and worshipping God in organized religion is not important. The devil knows that by getting many people to think this way, he can have a better chance to break up marriages. It also lowers the value seen in marriage. Children of divorced parents are less likely to want to get married when they becomes adults. So, we see an increase in cohabitation. By dividing families, the devil can also attack their faith in God. Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.” (Familiaris Consortio, 75) The devil knows that if he can destroy marriage, and the family, then it will lead to the downfall of the Church and the world.
What do we see in society today? The number of marriages is down. We see more single parent families, more division. We see fewer young people practicing their faith, many of them claiming that they are “spiritual” and don’t need organized religion. We can definitely see a lowering of moral values in this country.
God gave us our families and our Church to help us learn to love – to learn to love God first of all, and to love each other. By coming to Church and the family of God, we find strength and wisdom in hearing God’s word, worshipping together and receiving the sacraments. We become more united as God’s people when we worship together. It doesn’t mean that we will get along perfectly with each other. Families will still have their challenges. However, worshipping together does help us become more united in the Body of Christ. We are held more accountable and have a better chance of staying on the right path. This is the path of mercy and compassion toward others. This is the path that the Holy Family showed us. This is the path that every family is asked to follow. Is it an easy path to follow? No, it isn’t. But God helps us with His grace. When we fail, God helps us to be able to reconcile and stay together. When we succeed, God rejoices with us.
Jesus, our Savior, please continue to support us with your grace. Without you Lord, we will fail. Mary and Joseph, pray for us. We need your prayers. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we need your guidance, please show us the way.
Fr. Tim Ilgen
