Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Brothers and Sisters
Be gentle and generous
With all of your kin

Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 / Col 3:12-21 / Mt 2:13-15, 19-23

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

We are the children of God. You. Me. And everyone else on this little rock. We are siblings. Brothers and sisters all. And not in some hippy-dippy sense, but in our blood and bones, our hearts and souls. For we are the creation of our one Parent. Every last one of us. We are bound together in the deepest of ways, whether we like it or not. We are family. And that truth matters more than anything corporate religion or the prophets of tribalism can ever devise. You may not always agree with or even like your relatives, but they are always your family. Some bonds cannot be broken. And if we listen closely, we will hear our hearts and souls demanding that those bonds be recognized and honored, even with our worst enemies. So dare to follow the Spirit's call. Claim your place in the house of the Lord. It is your home too, and one far grander than any temple or cathedral, because it is simply our family.

1 Samuel 1:20-28; Psalms 84:2-10; 1 John 3:1-24; Luke 2:41-52

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3; Hebrews 11:8-19; Luke 2:22-40

Look at these families that God chose to create. They are not the sort of families to whom we would affix the labels natural or traditional. And yet they served as some of the greatest instruments of our Parent's will. This should be a warning to us to be careful in our assumptions about which families do and do not meet with God's approval. They desire trust and obedience, not proper demographics.

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Sirach 3:2-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-23

Our Parent really knows how to live it up. Instead of spending his first years on Earth as a pampered monarch in waiting, he chooses a life on the run, getting hauled all across the Middle East, one step ahead of mortal peril, utterly dependent on others. Why? Because while we fret over power dynamics and lines of authority, our Brother proclaims with his very life that family is all about dependence and subordination. We belong to one another, just as much as we belong to our God.

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

1 Samuel 1:20-28; Luke 2:41-52

What does it mean to be family? I say that blood and law are meaningless, as are money and social custom. Simply put, family are those we choose to love unconditionally. It can be as few as one, or as many as the entire universe. But the reason Hannah, Elkanah, Mary, and Joseph are so special is that they chose to include God in their family. Will you?

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Hebrews 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19; Luke 2: 22-40

A celebration of family today, and look at what families we have. Abraham, Sarah, & Isaac: two old sterile people and a son offered up in sacrifice. Joseph, Mary, & Jesus: an old man, his young virgin bride, and the Son of God (also to be offered up in sacrifice). So much for traditional family values! We are given a sign here of what it means to be true family: obedience to the will of God. It is not genes, law, or ritual that makes us family, it is faithfulness to that which is our true mother and father. Above all, it is faithfulness to love.