Importance of Family
“And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.”Colossians 3:14
The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is usually celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, which is today. (Side note: An “octave” is an 8-day celebration in which every day of those 8 days is celebrated as the day of the Solemnity, in this case, Christmas. So what that means is that for 8 days, every day is Christmas Day! This will be the same in Easter.) The Holy Family is a model which we should all emulate; I mean it is the HOLIEST of families out there! If you were to ask me to sum up what we ought to emulate from the Holy Family, it would be: the obedience of Jesus, the receptivity of Mary, and the righteousness of Joseph.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that “Son though He was, [Jesus] He learned obedience from what He suffered” (5:8). Yes, Jesus is the Son of God, but He was also the Son of Mary and taught by Joseph. Jesus learned everything from His parents, Mary and Joseph. Jesus learned how to pray from His parents. When He was 12 and stayed behind at the Temple after Passover, Joseph and Mary went all over the place looking for Him, and when they found Him, He gave a seemingly disrespectful response, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But what did He do afterwards? He went home with them and was “obedient to them” and “Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk. 2:51-52). It was in His obedience that wisdom came to be. We can see in Jesus’s public ministry the many times He suffered and turned to His Father in prayer, and in obedience continued to do His Father’s will, all the way to the Cross. Jesus’s obedience to His Father is the foundation upon which His entire earthly life was built.
From the moment the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God and she replied, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” we know that Mary’s primary position was one of receptivity, receptivity to the will of God. Because Mary received God’s word with joy and openness, the Word was made flesh, and Jesus entered into this world, bringing about our salvation. But in order for Mary to have made such a response, there first must have been a foundation of faith. If Mary did not know who God was or if she did not acknowledge the truth of God’s love and providence, she would not have been able to say “yes.” Of course we are told that Mary was “full of grace,” and so yes, she was pre-disposed to saying “yes” to God, but it also required an act of faith, one that came from gift of free will. So, Mary teaches us to say “yes” to God, but even more so, how we are able to get to that point in life. We must first learn to receive God into our hearts and allow His every word to permeate our being so that all that we think, say, and do comes from a place of truth and love, leading us to say “yes” to God, and in doing so, saying “yes” to our neighbor.
We do not know much about Joseph, but we do know that he was a “righteous” man, which means that he was in right relationship with God. Like Mary, Joseph received the word of God whole-heartedly, and he acted upon it. He took Mary into his home; he traveled to Bethlehem; he protected Mary and Joseph and fled to Egypt. Because Joseph was in right relationship with God, he was able to say “yes” to God and to live out that “yes” where he put his family first, something that all fathers ought to do. If a man roots his “yes” in God and builds his life upon the foundation of right relationship with God, then he can be the best son, husband, and father. (Likewise for woman!)
The obedience of Jesus, the receptivity of Mary, and the righteousness of Joseph only makes sense within the context of relationship, and a relationship that is rooted in love. A family is only a family within the context of relationship, and only if love dwells there. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph show us the different dimensions of a family and the different roles that exists within a family, all of which are indispensable. To be a part of a family means saying “yes” to love, but love is not saying “yes” to everything, but rather saying “yes” to what is most important: God and our relationship with Him. Only when we learn to say “yes” to God will we be able truly love our families because love without God will eventually become enabling, and when we enable our families and friends in things that are harmful to them, we are not really loving them.
So, on this Holy Family Sunday, let us remember that faith truly begins in the family. It is within the family that we first learn who God is, and what it means to love. May we all today reflect upon our families and the role we have been asked to play in our families. Have we lived out our roles obediently, receptively, and righteously? Let us turn to the Holy Family today, asking them to intercede for us so that God might grant us the graces we need to say “yes” to Him and to our families.
Click below to watch and listen to my reflection on the readings for Holy Family Sunday.
