Gospel Reflection for December 29th 2019 The Feast of the Holy Family
All Families are Sacred and Holy
Today in union with the whole Church, we honour and celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. After the unfolding events Jesus’ birth, the gospel today tells us about the dreams of Joseph through which God speaks to and leads him as he cares for his new family.
Herod was eager to destroy anyone or anything that would threaten his power or authority, so he decided to kill all newly born male children. Through a dream Joseph is warned of this and told to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt for safety. This perhaps reminds us of the reality we see every night on our televisions; millions men, women and children;,refugees, exiles and immigrants being forced from their homeland because of climate change, terrorism and warfare. Despite all the lovely Christmas cards depicting the Holy Family, there is nothing romantic about being forced from your home. The danger and uncertainty that these people suffer today is exactly the same experience that Mary, Joseph and Jesus had.
While Mary is called to be the Mother of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirt, Joseph also has major part to play in the life of Jesus. Unlike Mary, we actually don’t know a lot about Joseph. According to the gospels, he is not present for the public life of Jesus. Joseph, like Mary was called by God; he too was unsure and perhaps even worried and anxious. He is assured and strengthened with the words, ‘Do not be afraid.’ God who called him will not abandoned him. Neither Joseph nor Mary knew what lay ahead of them as parents; but they accepted in hope and trust what God asked of them. They responded in faith and lived everyday of their family life believing that God was with them. They were not free from the daily trails, worries and anxieties of parenthood or family life.
Today, perhaps is a day for us to take some time to think about our own families and from where we come. It is said that we can choose our friends but not our families. Our own families are given to us as a gift from God, and in return we are given to them as gifts. All our families are sacred and holy places; they are the places where ideally we can truly be ourselves and still be loved! Our families shape and mould us in countless ways for better or worse. But as we know from experience, all families suffer and struggle with problems and difficulties. Sadly, sometimes families are not places of love or acceptance.
Today, in union with the Holy Family, let us pray for all our families and thank God for them. Let us pray especially for those families we know who are struggling or who are in pain in any way. As God was with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, may God also guide, support and protect those families who are experiencing problems or difficulties.
-Br Michael Moore OMI
Gospel for December 29th the Feast of the Holy Family : Matthew 2:13-15; 19-23 ©
Dangers faced by the Holy Family before they settled in Nazareth
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
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