Dear friends, Here is my homily for the Feast of the Holy Family. I trust you all had a Merry Christmas. I am still recuperating! At my age I am learning more about social media, with one foot in this century and the other in the last century. For a few years now I have been on facebook. I keep in touch with family and friends all over the world by facebook, and even put my Sunday homilies on it - in English and in Spanish. It is a great communication tool, although there are many instances of the dangers and pitfalls of it. I tease one of my friends in the Congregation about my 1, 450 facebook friends, and that there are the people that really count in my life - mostly because he isnt on facebook and I love to torment him. One thing that such social medias as facebook does is to give people a sense of belonging, feeling connected with others. We all need that in our life, to feel that people need us and depend on us, that we make a difference in the life of others. Although we may have a wide group of friends - like on facebook - hopefully we all have relationships that are more profound and intimate, people who really know us as we are - people with whom we have a history - and are committed to us in whatever need we may have. Sometimes we realize that we cannot spread ourselves too thinly, and even have to cut back on some of the friendships or associations. As I reflected on our readings of today, the Feast of the Holy Family, the theme of belonging came to mind One of the common and universal experiences we share is that of family. Each family is unique, but most often the dynamics of family life – roles and responsibilities, relationships and activities – are the same. Whether we are living here or elsewhere, family life has its own momentum and rhythm. As I said, for me the central theme of today is belonging. Not only do we belong to one another in our family, but above all we belong to God. In the First Reading from the Book of Genesis (15:1-6; 17:3-5, 15-17; 21:1-7). God takes the initiative with Abram. He becomes the God of Abram, even giving him a new name – Abraham. He makes the initial covenant with Abraham and blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son, Isaac. Abraham and Sara, and their descendants, belong to God through the covenant. He will lead and guide them. He will correct and bless them. He will make them flourish and protect them. In the Second Reading from St. Paul to the Hebrews (11:8, 11-12, 17-19) he celebrates this initial covenant, referring to the sealing of the covenant when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Of course, God provided a lamb for the sacrifice, but Abraham had proven himself faithful to God. In the Gospel (Luke 2:22-40) God reveals to Simeon and Anna that this child belongs to him. He is the long awaited Messiah. He inspires both of the them to recognize the divine nature of this child that was brought to the temple in Jerusalem. They both proclaim it – I can imagine much to the surprise and delight of Mary and Joseph. These words must have confirmed their faithfulness to God and encouraged them to know that they were doing God’s will. We celebrate today that we too belong to God. In our Baptism we become children of God, and through the new covenant with Jesus the Lord, God tells us that we are holy, that we too are consecrated to God. ‘Consecrated’ is not a word that we would use often in conversation – hardly ever. We rarely think of things or people being ‘made holy = consecrated’. On the Feast of the Consecration of the Basilica of St. John Lateran a few weeks ago I mentioned about the holiness of this place, and other places of worship – as well as our own holiness. We have been made holy by God, and he consecrates us. This holiness will not come to us as an infusion or through some mysterious osmosis. This holiness will come to us through our intimate union with God – through our prayer life, the reading of the Sacred Scriptures, and our participation in the Sacraments of the Church, in particular the Eucharist, and our sharing in the life of the Community. The holiness will reveal itself through the way we think, feel, decide, speak and act. This is where the message of these readings really speak – for me – to our family life today. Our families belong to God, no matter how much we may struggle. If each member of the family turns to God and is faithful to God, unity and harmony will prevail. There will be forgiveness and reconciliation. Tolerance will give way to acceptance. We will listen with new ears, not only ‘hearing’ the words, but listening with our hearts. We will develop compassion, in particular as we recognize our own human condition, our feelings and our struggles. Our family is the school of life and love. We need one another, even though we may live a distance from one another. We must strive not only to make each other happy, but to make each other holy. Our example does count and we cannot underestimate the significance of our words and actions, and how God can use them in helping others to realize that they too belong to him and they too have been consecrated and are called to reflect the reality in their personal and family life. As we celebrate on this day the holy lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, let us also celebrate that our family is on the way to greater wholeness and holiness as each one of us follows God’s will and we live a quality of life that professes that we do belong to God, that we have been consecrated by God, and made holy before him. Let us not be afraid to share it with others and call them into belonging to this holy family of God. .
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 13:19:10 +0000
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