Homily: Feast of the Holy Family
December 29, 2024
My dear brothers and sisters, this Sunday, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In this celebration, the Church remembers families in a special way and calls on every member of Christian family: father, mother, children, grandparents to model their own families taking after the Holy Family. The role of the family in shaping the world is irreplaceable. The Church can survive without schools, without hospitals, even without churches or religious congregations but the Church cannot survive on earth without Christian families. That is why the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council called the family the domestic Church.
Christ himself started from the family; He became visible through the media of the family. Christ found no better platform, no better method, no better technique, no better base than the family. If God attached so much importance to family, is it we mere mortals that would undermine the value therein in the family? In 12th September 1993 edition of the “Indian Express” it was reported that according to a new biography of Albert Einstein, the great physicist, he divorced his first wife after 16 years of marriage. At the time of the divorce, he had two teenaged sons. The elder one hated him up to the end of his life. The younger one became mentally ill and died a miserable death in mental asylum. We get this type of end-product when we allow the family to be shattered into pieces.
As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, I call on each and every one of us to invest on our family, to nourish our family, to edify the family. The family is the first school of love and solidarity, the first school of all human and Christian virtues. The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2207 tell us that ‘the family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.” From the family, the child learns how to pray, how to love, how to communicate and how to relate. Molding the child to become a monster, an idiot or to become an angel, a genius and a saint begins in the family for charity begins at home. Educative influence of the home on individuals is much greater than that of any other group, that is why, parents have much work. Christian family has to be a community of prayer. The Christian family must participate in the Holy Mass, in the Holy Eucharist and in the other sacraments especially on Sundays.
It is not uncommon for families to encounter family problems. Is there a family without a family challenge? The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had a lot of family problems. At a point the mighty and wicked King Herod was after them to murder Jesus. They had to run from Bethlehem in the Middle East to Egypt in another continent of Africa. Imagine how arduous such journey would be before the advent of airplane, trains and motor vehicles. Imagine the agony and internal torture they underwent. At a point, the child Jesus was lost and Joseph and Mary had to search for him for three days. In the final analysis, the only Son of the family was brutally murdered in the most shameful way. Members of the Holy Family pushed through challenges before they became icons of life. So, family problems should not tear our families into pieces. Following in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph, when we push through family problems, we become stronger. The 4th commandment of the decalogue; honor thy father and thy mother is not only for the children, it is for parents too. Fathers, honor thy fatherhood and father well, mothers, honor thy motherhood and mother well, children, children well, grandparents, also grandparent well.
Finally, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy family also the last Sunday of the year, let me repeat my words of gratitude to you all for your generous contributions in cash and in kind to make our parish an ideal family. I thank you all and pray that the new year 2025 will be a blessed year for us all. Amen
