The Christmas crib tells us of a wonderful story that is
almost too good to be true. In fact, many believe that it is not true, that it
is just a fairy story. This clear, clean story is wonderful for our young
children, but as we grow older it loses its punch. However fondly we experience
or look back on our childhood, we cannot identify closely to this family. For
us it is one that just exists in books and art. The Holy Family, for all
intents and purposes, comes from another planet.
As we mature we need to leave behind the glossy story and look
at what is in the scriptures and tradition; for it is there that we will find
the Holy Family, living and true.
The Jewish tradition was similar to that of our Aboriginal
cultures in Australia. Women were promised to older men who took them as wives
when they were mature enough to assume the duties of married life. Acceptable
as it was then, this is not the ideal of any young woman today. Mary was
pregnant before Joseph had taken her to his home, and with paternity unclear
(at least publicly), there was huge trouble brewing. Socially, Joseph made it
worse by accepting this woman into his house, probably bringing more shame on
an already suffering extended family. Banished to a cave on the edge of town, they
camped out with shepherds and then went on the run from Herod. Finally, in the Gospel
passage today, Mary and Joseph lose their son, not in the supermarket for five
minutes, but for three days! This is the
real story of the real people who are in our crib. It is by contemplating this
reality that we can connect it with our own.
This Family is Holy because together they strive to do God’s
will. Holiness is the spiritual quality derived from participation in the life
of God. It is empowering, it lifts us up and we come to the realisation that we
can become so much when we live in God. In this encounter we realise our own
lack of completeness (or to put it another way, our own unworthiness), but
rather than being beaten down by this realisation, we are lifted up by the same
Christ we see in the stable.
Put under a microscope, it could be aside that the Holy
Family was unique, at best unusual, and this is our invitation into their life,
their holiness.
In our families we live with many contradictions. The family is the basic unit of society, and
any society that has denied this has fallen into chaos. The family, consisting
of a mother, father and children, is the best forum we can use to engender generosity,
love and stability; it gives the best chance of providing security, culture and
identity. We need strong families: anything
else is second best, or in modern parlance, not ‘best practice’. This may be
the case, but last week I heard commentators on the radio giving advice on how
not to end up in family fights on Christmas Day. The family is the best safety we can offer
for our infants and youth, yet we acknowledge that the majority of physical and
sexual abuse happens in the family home. In our families we can experience the
best and worst that human nature can exercise.
So what can you and I with our varied and unique experience
of family life, take from this feast celebrating the domestic life of Jesus
Mary and Joseph? The Holy Family began a journey when the Angel Gabriel
appeared to Mary. It was never a smooth journey, and there were many tears,
disappointments and heartaches. Mary and Joseph made it through because of
their unswerving trust and faith in God’s promise, their huge capacity to accept
each other, to forgive others, and hope in what lay ahead. This Holy Family is
our family, their experiences our experiences, their faith our faith and their
God our God.
As we embrace the aura that
surrounds the crib, resolve to make our families places of trust and faith, of forgiveness and acceptance, of hope in the future and like the unique family of Nazareth,
places of encounter with God.
Homily on the Feast of the Holy Family, 30th December 2012, OLQP Broome.
