{"id":919,"date":"2012-12-31T08:08:38","date_gmt":"2012-12-31T13:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=919"},"modified":"2012-12-31T08:08:38","modified_gmt":"2012-12-31T13:08:38","slug":"feast-of-the-holy-family-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/feast-of-the-holy-family-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Feast of the Holy Family Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Holy Family, Year C\u00a0<\/a>
\n1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-8
\n1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
\nLuke 2:41-52
\nDecember 30, 2012<\/p>\n

Christmas is not over.\u00a0 Christmas is too important to be a single day.\u00a0 We celebrate Christmas as a season from Christmas Day till the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which we will celebrate on January 13th.<\/p>\n

During this time, we celebrate some important feasts that are part of the Christmas story for us.\u00a0 Tuesday we will celebrate the Holy Day of Mary as Mother of God.\u00a0 Next weekend we will celebrate Epiphany but before that our feast today is the Feast of the Holy Family.<\/p>\n

Christmas is about Jesus and Mary and Joseph are part of the Christmas story, Mary for her saying yes to God at the Annunciation and Joseph who listened to the angel to do what was right in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

But Mary and Joseph\u2019s role did not end with the birth of Jesus.\u00a0 It was just beginning.<\/p>\n

Jesus was born as a human being at Christmas and became part of a human family with Mary and Joseph as his parents.\u00a0 It was their role as parents to teach him the Jewish customs and laws.<\/p>\n

We see that in today\u2019s gospel when they take Jesus with them to celebrate the Passover.\u00a0 We see the humanness in their family when they lose the Son of God.\u00a0 Have you ever left one of your children behind?\u00a0 Remember Mary and Joseph knows what is like! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mary and Joseph taught Jesus what it is to be a child of God.\u00a0 It means doing God\u2019s Will and recognizing the gifts God has given us.<\/p>\n

Look at the story of Hannah.\u00a0 She had been without children and constantly prayed for God to bless her with children.\u00a0 When her prayers were finally answered, she gave the child right back to God.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that she had changed her mind.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that her son Samuel was misbehaving and she no longer wanted him.\u00a0 She did this in thanksgiving, recognizing Samuel as a gift from God.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of being a family.\u00a0 Today, one would not expect a new mother to leave her young son at church in service to God.<\/p>\n

But we can give our children to God in a spiritual way.\u00a0 It begins with Baptism, asking that the child be reborn in the spirit.\u00a0 Then, we teach them to know God.\u00a0 This means coming to church weekly.\u00a0 It means praying with them.\u00a0 It means showing them what faith means to us.<\/p>\n

It means teaching them God\u2019s commandments.\u00a0 Mary and Joseph followed God\u2019s Commandments and we are called to do the same.\u00a0 In doing so, we remain in God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

Of course, all of this is the ideal.\u00a0 We hope and pray for the ideal.\u00a0 But the ideal doesn\u2019t always happen, does it?<\/p>\n

When we think of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as the Holy Family, we might think of their lives as perfect.\u00a0 How hard could life be when your son is the Son of God?<\/p>\n

Well, their life wasn\u2019t perfect.\u00a0 Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s no one\u2019s definition of perfect.<\/p>\n

Then the shepherds and magi come to give homage to Jesus.\u00a0 Maybe things are getting better.\u00a0 But wait!\u00a0 Joseph is instructed in a dream to take Mary and Joseph to Egypt, a few hundred miles from home, because Herod is plotting to kill Jesus.<\/p>\n

Hardly perfect right?<\/p>\n

Then there is the story we hear today of how they lost Jesus in the Temple.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty sure that wasn\u2019t part of their plan! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately, Mary would be at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was crucified.\u00a0 Not what Mary would have wanted.<\/p>\n

So life was not perfect for the Holy Family.\u00a0 Jesus learned what it was like to struggle in family.<\/p>\n

What struggles does your family face?<\/p>\n

Job issues?\u00a0 Home issues?\u00a0 Forced to move?\u00a0 Mary, Joseph, and Jesus know what it is like.\u00a0 They kept the faith as the source of their strength.\u00a0 They are an example for us.\u00a0 We can ask for Mary and Joseph to intercede for us in our family struggles and that Jesus help us in his grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holy Family, Year C\u00a0 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-8 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 Luke 2:41-52 December 30, 2012 Christmas is not over.\u00a0 Christmas is too important to be a single day.\u00a0 We celebrate Christmas as a season from Christmas Day till the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which we will celebrate on January 13th. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Feast of the Holy Family Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[62,26],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-eP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}