Homily for Holy Family Year A 2016-2017
SIR 3:2-6, 12-14, COL 3:12-21, MT 2:13-15, 19-23
Introduction
“You
can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family." This famous line from To Kill a Mockingbird might seem
to suggest that friends are more important than family. But the next words make it clear that family
is still very important. It says: "an' they're still kin to you no matter
whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you
don't.”
Yes, although we cannot choose our family,
although sometimes we don't get along with family, although sometimes family is
a cause of suffering for us, they are still family, given to us by God.
Scripture and Theology
But why did God choose to give us
families? Why did he not just make us
like ferns, those seedless plants that reproduce by themselves and are self-sufficient?
God created the family because God created
us in his own image and likeness, as we hear in the Book of Genesis. Since God is a Trinity, a communion or a
family of three Persons sharing the divine nature, he also created us to be a
communion of persons, finding out fulfilment in each other, in those
complicated and intricate relationships of the family, both the nuclear family
and the extended family. We are not
independent, but dependent on others and others on us..
Unfortunately, such interdependence is not
always easy. Family life is heavenly
only some of the time, after all we are dealing with imperfect human beings. We cannot buy a perfect family the way we buy
a perfect toaster on a wedding register at Best Buy. Family life is more like a colouring book,
which has only outlines, which God wants us to colour in, to fill in with the
crayons that he has provided.
Today's readings provide those crayons we
need to paint our family portrait, to have a healthy Christian family, built on
the pattern of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
First, we have to respect the different
roles of each member in the family. We can
think of a family like a tree, which has roots, a trunk, and branches, each
contributing something to the health of the tree.
·
Our first reading from the Book
of Sirach says that "Mom and Dad" are in charge. They have an
authority received from God, to raise their children and educate them. That is why sometimes when the child asks why
they must do something, mom is within her God-given rights to say:
"Because I am the mom and I say so."
No further explanation is needed, as long as the parents are not abusing
their authority. That is a role that
Joseph certainly played in raising the child Jesus, teaching him how to talk
and walk, pray and play, read and write, even how to be a carpenter.
·
Children are also asked to obey
their parents, because they have God-given authority over them, but also because
they have experience. The older I get,
the more I realize how little I know. We
have a saying in Uganda: "An older man sitting on a chair, can see much
farther than a young man standing."
This is because the older man, our parents have more experience, have
seen it all, have been around the block a few times, as you say here. Moreover, children have the obligation to
care for their parents, as the first reading said. Sometimes it happens that we children have to
do for our parents when they are older, what they did for us: feed them, take
them to the hospital, even change their diapers.
And so, the first crayon for painting our
family portrait is for each member of the family to play their God-given role and
together build the family in joy and peace.
St Paul in the Second Reading gives us the
second crayon for colouring our family portrait. After suggesting some marvellous qualities
for the Christian family, "heartfelt
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one
another and forgiving one another . . . ." he says: "And over all these put on love, that is, the
bond of perfection." Family
members, especially husband and wife must love one another. Nothing can substitute that love, not work,
not wealth, not even wine.
Besides playing their roles, and playing
them in love, the third crayon comes from the gospel passage, which suggests
bearing suffering patiently. Yes, family
comes with suffering. For example, put
yourself in Joseph's shoes.
·
First, an angel has asked you
to take as your wife, a woman who is pregnant, but the child is not yours.
·
Then you have had to walk over
a hundred miles with your pregnant wife, up to Bethlehem and she has to give
birth in a cowshed.
·
Finally, another angel has told
you that you cannot go back home; you have to flee to Egypt, to be a refugee
like the Syrian, South Sudanese and other refugees today.
I suppose a man who is not committed to
family, might have thrown his hands up in the air and said, "I give
up." God, you are on your own. But Joseph did not, nor do we give up when we
have difficulties in the family, be they financial relationship or illness.
Christian Life
That is why the Catholic
Church is a strong promoter of the family.
We Christians must take our natural families very seriously, in whatever
form they come. Most of us are fortunate
to belong to a family with a father and a mother, the unit in which God
intended children to be raised, life to be lived. Others, especially widows
and orphans, the separated and divorced, the single and strangers, have to make
do with a different kind of family. Whatever family we have, like the Holy Family was for Jesus, our family is the school of
learning the faith and living out our Christian life as the Catechism teaches
us.
Let us remember the three crayons given us
for painting our family portrait, or our three ingredients for making a
wonderful gumbo.
1.
Playing our respective roles
faithfully
2.
Loving each other with all our
hearts
3.
Enduring suffering patiently
Conclusion
Yes, we cannot choose
our family in the same way we choose our friends. But God has given us family so that we can
make them friends as well.
And then together, we
can march on to heaven, supporting each other, carrying those who are weak, so
that when we know at God's door, he does not ask: "Where is the rest of
your family?"
No comments:
Post a Comment