Father Donald Senior, CP

Dec. 31: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Amoris Laetitia

Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Col 3:12-21; Lk 2:22-40

As Pope Francis notes in the opening line of his powerful encyclical on the family, “The Joy of Love” (in Latin, “Amoris Laetitia”), “The Bible is full of families, births, love stories and family crises.” The Bible is not an abstract religious treatise but a long human (as well as divine) story. Therefore, family life permeates all of its pages.

A few years ago, I taught a course on the Gospel of John at Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park. Halfway through the term, a student in the class gave birth to a baby girl. Her husband was working and they could not afford day care, so she asked if she might bring her baby to class. As it turned out, having that infant in the class became a memorable experience for all of us. 

Now and then she made a little baby sound but otherwise the child was remarkably quiet. Just having her there as we discussed John’s portrayal of the “Word made flesh” brought the reality of family life into the realm of the Gospel. 

The mother herself was amazed that her baby girl kept so quiet during class. She wondered if her tiny bundle of human life was in fact mysteriously listening to the Gospel and feeling at home in the beauty of its message.

This first Sunday after Christmas celebrates the Holy Family and, because of that, celebrates all family life and views it as sacred. The readings reflect the cultural assumptions of their time but also communicate deep faith and common sense.  

Sirach, part of the “wisdom” literature of the Bible, recalls that God stands at the origin of the family, “setting a father in honor over his children” and confirming “a mother’s authority … over her sons.” Children who honor their parents “atone” for their sins and “stores up riches” in heaven. “Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.”  

In exhorting a son to care for his father in his old age, Sirach urges adult children to be considerate of their parents “even if his mind fails.” Kindness to such a parent will not be forgotten. How many adult sons and daughters today face the challenges of caring for a frail and aging parent, while remaining kind and considerate?

Psalm 128 exults in the beauty of family life, perhaps viewing things a bit ideally: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table.” Once again through the cultural assumptions of many centuries ago, we see the perennial longing for a peaceful home, with everyone in good health and united in love.  

This yearning for a loving family also finds expression in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. It urges the Christian community of Colossae to “put on, as God’s chosen ones … heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.” 

Again, drawing on the assumptions of first-century Roman society, the author assigns typical roles to the members of the family: wives are to be “subordinate” to their husbands; husbands are to love their wives; children are to “obey your parents in everything”; fathers should “not provoke your children, so they many not become discouraged.”

Luke’s Gospel selection tells of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple to ask God’s blessing on their child, as was customary. There they encounter two prophetic figures, Anna and Simeon, who represent the very best of Jewish piety. They recognize in this child the fulfillment of all their dreams and hopes.  

As Simeon holds Jesus in his arms he breaks into ecstatic praise: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace … for my eyes have seen your salvation.” But Jesus will not be prepared for his mission in the sacred precincts of the temple but in a family, in the town of Nazareth.  

It is within the reality of the Christian family, Pope Francis notes, where the church is created. “May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us.”

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