Feast of the Holy Family Reflection for the Gospel text Luke 2:22-40 They brought the baby up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Our gaze instinctively goes to the middle of the manger —Jesus— to look at Mary and Joseph. The eternal Son of the Father goes from the eternal Family, which is the Holy Trinity, forward to the worldly family formed by Mary and Joseph. How important must the family be in the eyes of God, when the first thing God provides His Son with, is a family! In his apostolic letter The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, John Paul II has again emphasized that the family is of paramount importance as the foundation of the Church and of the human society, and he asks us to pray for the family while encouraging the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary within the family to revivify this institution. If the family goes well, the society and the Church will go well too. The Gospel tells us that the child grew in stature and strength and that he was filled with wisdom. Jesus found the warmth of a family built up in their reciprocal love relationship. It would be so beautiful and profitable our trying as hard as possible to build up our own family: with spirit of service and prayer; with mutual loving; with a greater capacity to understand and forgive. We would have a taste of Heaven —as in the Nazareth home— down here! Today, one of the most urgent tasks we have is to build up our family. As the Second Vatican Council reminded us, the parents ought to have an irreplaceable role: «It is the duty of parents to create a family ambiance animated by love and piety towards God and towards men, that favors the total personal and social education of the sons». In the family we learn what is most important, i.e. to be persons. Finally, to speak with Christians about the family is to speak of the Church. Evangelist Luke tells us that Jesus parents brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. That offering was the representation of Jesus sacrificial offering to his Father, from the fruit of which Christians are born. To consider this joyous reality will open us to a greater fraternity and to loving more the Church. Comment: Fr. Joan Ant. MATEO i García (La Fuliola, Lleida, Spain).
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 05:52:27 +0000
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