C.

Bible reading: Lk 2, 41-52

D. Reading of the Teachings of the Church

1. The news on the family of Nazareth in the Gospels are scant, but very illustrating.

2. It is a family built on the base of the marriage between Joseph and Mary. They were really
married, as stated by Mathew and Luke; and they lived like this until Joseph’s death. Jesus really
was Mary’s son. Joseph was not the biological father –he did not actually father the child- nor
was he an adoptive or surrogate father, but the people of Nazareth regarded him as the father of
Jesus because they were ignorant of the mystery of Incarnation, and also because Joseph was
married to Mary. This is very important today because of the civil legislation and cultural
environment that favor common-law and purely civil relationships, divorce, etc. The family of
Nazareth is depicted today as an example of a couple formed by a man and a woman,
permanently joined by love and with a public dimension.

3. The family of Nazareth lived just like any other family in the town. They led a simple,
humble, poor, hard-working lifestyle, with love for the cultural and religious traditions of their
country, they were deeply religious and distant from the centers of religious and civil power. A
traveler visiting Nazareth who would be ignorant of the facts as we know them, would not find
anything to set the holy family apart from the other families: nothing in their dwelling, clothing,
food or in the presence of religious acts held in the synagogue, nothing made them different. God
has wanted to show us that everyday life is the place where He waits for us to love him and carry
out His project on us. The secret is to live “that” life with the same love and dedication as the
Holy Family.

4. The Gospels do not clearly state Joseph's trade: blacksmith, carpenter, craftsman... However,
the do clearly state that he worked with his hands, and this was his livelihood. Mary, like all
married women, milled the flour and baked the daily bread, did the household chores and
rendered small services for others. Nothing is said about Jesus, but it is assumed that he helped
Mary and, later on, he helped Joseph in his manual work. The family of Nazareth lived what we
now call the “gospel of work”, that is, work as a wonderful reality that gives participation in the
creative work of God; work that supports the family and helps others, to be sanctified and to
sanctify through it. This is also the perfect model for the modern family. Many still live like that,
and others, despite the women working outside the home and the technology of domestic chores,
are still basically unchanged.

5. The family of Nazareth was a deeply religious and practicing family. Like the rest of the pious
families, they always prayed at every meal, went every week to hear the reading and explanation
of the Old Testament in the synagogue, they went to Jerusalem to celebrate the pilgrimage feasts
like Passover and Pentecost, and they prayed the famous “Behold Israel” three times a day. In the
same manner, blessing the food and mealtimes, weekly participation in Sunday mass and the
reading of the Holy Scriptures are still the bases for the Christian family to carry out its
educational mission.

6. The family of Nazareth’s life was completely centered in God: God was everything for them.
Before they were married, Joseph trusted God when, through an angel, he was told that Mary's
pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit. Once married, Mary and Joseph had to hear from the
child that had just found, after days of fretful searching, these words: “Why were you looking for
me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Lk 2,49). They did not understand
it, but they accepted it and tried to find a meaning. Mary, however, did not lose her faith when
she saw her son nailed to the cross like a criminal and beaten by the heads of the town. The
Christian family, whose life is always a picture of lights and shadows, finds peace and joy when
it knows it can see God there, even though it does not fully understand.