By Leon Bent
The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Catholic Church in honour of Jesus, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family. The primary purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families; a fountain of perennial, pristine, profound, pure love! On this feast day we offer our own families on the Altar of the Eucharist, to seek God’s blessing and to obtain the guidance of the Holy Family.
Shortly after September 11, 2001, Queen Elizabeth II, offering her condolences to the people of the United States, wrote: “My thoughts and prayers are with you all now, and in the difficult days ahead. But nothing that can be said can take away the anguish and the pain of these moments.” But, then, she added a much-needed, quite maternal wisdom-insight: “Grief is the price we pay for love!”
The Church does not celebrate the Holy Family to set Jesus, Mary and Joseph above the shortcomings of our own families. None of us come from families composed of a saint/s, and two utterly sinless souls; all of us spring forth from families that do not measure up; and most all of us come from families marked by some shame. This feast does not exist to make us feel even worse. No condemnation! No comments!
When Joseph and Mary bring their newborn babe to the Temple, Simeon warns the mother:
“’Behold, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed – and a sword will pierce your soul too – so that, the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'” (Lk. 2:34-35).
Scripture scholars typically do not follow Christian piety in seeing this as a prophecy of Mary’s future suffering. They understand Simeon to be saying that a sword of division will enter her heart just as it must the heart of every disciple, compelling a choice for, or against, Christ. Of course, the traditional and the exegetical readings might both be true. Mary chooses to cling to Christ in love, and, in doing so in a fallen world, she suffers the consequences. “Grief is the price we pray for love!”
While he lived with them, Joseph, one of the greatest of saints stood outside the threshold of an inconceivable intimacy. Not being sinless, we cannot imagine the depth of love shared between Jesus and Mary, who cherished one another without any taint of sin. Mary, the creature, and Jesus, the uncreated Son of the Father, shared an intimacy that God had intended for all. Yet, after the Fall of Adam and Eve, it could be experienced by no one else. Despite all the joy he must have known in his ominous, unenviable mission, Joseph would have lived each day of his earthly life as the porter, the one who protects the door of the bridal chamber, never fully entering into the mysterious depths of God’s love, of God who is love.
Now, this gold nugget! Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, on the feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth said, “I address with joy all the families of the world. In the Gospel we do not find discourses on the family, but an event, which is worth more than a thousand words: God wanted His Son to be born and grow up in a human family. In this way he consecrated the family, as the first and ordinary means in coming among us at Christmas.” “In his life spent at Nazareth, Jesus honoured the Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph, remaining under their charge, throughout his childhood and adolescence (cf.Lk.2:41-52). In this way he shed light on the primary value of the family in the education (to draw out the best, in a person) of the family.”
These poignant words are truly sprinkled with silver dust! “The Holy Family is truly the “prototype” of every Christian family which, united in the Sacrament of Marriage, and nourished with the Word and the Eucharist, is called to carry out the wonderful vocation and mission of being the living cell, not only of Society, but, also the Church – a sign and instrument of unity for the entire human race”
And, finally this flourish! May Jesus, Mary and Joseph help Christian families, in every part of the world be, living images of God’s love!
The best wine is served last! If we want our lives to be a poem on mercy, a dance of love, a theatre of service and a canvas of wisdom-stories, we need to gaze at the radiant face of the Child Jesus, and discover ourselves reflected in his beautiful, glowing eyes – and be transformed!
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
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