Feast of the Holy Family, Year B Dec.

28, 2014

How many of you remember the Cleaver family from the T.V. show Leave it to
Beaver? A typical episode usually included a misadventure by one or both of the boys
that ended up with a moral lecture from their father and a hot meal from their mother.
They portrayed what everyone perceived to be a perfect family. Most of us know that
those episodes never really reflected reality and we all know how things have changed
since then.
The reality of family life today includes single mothers and fathers with children,
multigenerational families living together because its the only way to make ends meet,
grandparents raising their grandchildren, step parents with step children, couples with
adopted children and married couples with children. Families get separated because of
divorce, deaths, temporary job assignments, economic hardships or immigration policies.
Whatever the situation, each Christian Family is (according to the Catechism of the
Catholic Church 2205) called to be a communion of persons, a sign and image of the
communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.
Raising a family can be a challenge especially in the teenage years where peer pressure
seems to tell our young people that they can make it on their own with no need for God.
So many of us wonder where we went wrong. Why dont our children practice their
faith? What did we do to turn them away? These years of growing in independence and
self-definition can be emotional, not only for our children but for us as parents as well.
Each one of us can look on our families with their blessings, but also with their piercing
swords.
Just a few days ago we celebrated Christmas and the creation of a new family, Joseph,
Mary and Jesus, and today we celebrate them as the Holy Family. When we think of the
Holy Family we often see them as the perfect model for all families. Everything we know
about them, which isnt much, comes from the Gospel accounts that we read over the
three year cycle of readings in our Sunday Lectionary. These stories celebrate the unity
and love that Joseph, Mary and Jesus share, and we should try to imitate them in that
same sense of love and unity.
As I said earlier, family life today can be tough and Im sure it wasnt any easier in the
time of Christ. Joseph had to work hard to support his family; there were no hourly
wages or big factories with benefits that promised a modest lifestyle. Everything they
had was earned by the work of his hands, and Mary did her share of scrimping and
saving to help make ends meet.
The year before Jesus was born would have been extremely hard for them. Mary was
expecting a child before she was married. Joseph had to put up with the humiliation and
ridicule of the people. They were poor and had limited means to survive. Almost nine
months into her pregnancy, they journeyed to Bethlehem for the census because they
were righteous Jews who observed the law. Upon arrival there was no room for them
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which makes me wonder if the Inn was really full or if the hotel was just more than
Joseph could afford. He stood helpless and watched Mary give birth to her child in a cave
with the cattle. Now he was faced with his human role of providing for his new family
and all he had to offer his son was a life tied to the limitation of a poor carpenter.
Today we also heard in the Gospel how Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple in
Jerusalem because it was time for the dedication of the child and the purification of his
mother in accordance with the law of the Lord. This was again another huge journey for
the three of them which again clearly shows that Jesus was raised in an observant family.
First they complied with the imperial decree to be enrolled in the census, and now they
observed the religious requirements of purification and redemption of the firstborn son.
Redemption was a way of reclaiming the firstborn male child, who they believed
belonged to God. Buying back the child was a way of acknowledging Gods initial claim
on him. This is where we learn that they were poor. The usual offering was a lamb which
they could not afford. Instead they offered the gift assigned to the poorest, a pair of
turtle doves.
The Shepherds, Simeon, Anna, later the Wise Men and so many others told Joseph and
Mary over and over of the blessing they had in their arms, but they needed more than
verbal blessings. Every day they would have struggled to make ends meet.
Today we live in a society where its hard for many of us to understand the blessings in
poverty. Mary and Joseph, like many poor parents today were trying to be faithful. The
journey for them wasnt and for many today isnt easy. The gap between the rich and
poor is growing bigger and bigger and in todays society for most of us, its hard to
accept the idea of being blessed but not prosperous.
As people in a rich country like Canada we have an obligation to care for poor families so
they can raise their children with limited burdens. All children are a gift to the world and
we are called to create a society that cares for struggling and faithful parents. I think
todays gospel is pleading with us to help create a more just society for children born
into poverty.
If Jesus was born today to teen aged parents in poverty, in Canada, would he be better
off than he was 2000 years ago? Yes he would have adequate health care and
education, but what about food, clothing and proper affordable living conditions? We as
a community of faithful and as a greater community of means have a moral obligation to
give more than verbal blessings to the poor. We must work together toward eliminating
poverty and by our help remove and replace with love, the sword that pierces the souls
of so many parents.
We should strive to become more like Joseph, Mary and Jesus who though poor as they
were, lived their lives in unity and love with each other.

Living by their example will teach us to help each other, and to help improve the lives of
the poor and needy families of our community.