The Holy Family

CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14: Colossians 3:12-17; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family

During an audience, Pope Paul VI spoke about an experience he had when he was Archbishop of Milan and visiting families in a parish. He found an elderly woman living alone. “How are you?” he asked. “Not bad,” she answered. “I have enough food, and I’m not suffering from the cold.” “You must be reasonably happy then?” he said. “No, I’m not,” she said and started to cry. “My son and daughter-in-law never come to see me. I’m dying of loneliness.” The Pope concluded: “Food and warmth are not enough; people need something more. They need our presence, our time, our love. They need to be touched, to be reassured that they are not forgotten.”

This “something more” is what a family ought to provide! A family provides not merely material needs but also and especially emotional and spiritual needs. This is what makes a family: caring for one another and meeting the needs of one another. 

The gospel graphically describes how Joseph and Mary leave home and possessions, family and homeland to preserve their son from Herod’s wrath. They step out of their comfort zone, and live in a country they did not know, with languages and customs not their own; they put themselves out to meet their son’s need for safety and security.

In a family, children, too, have obligations. The first reading exhorts children to respect and obey their parents, and to help them in their old age. 

Paul in his letter to the Colossians suggests attitudes and virtues for the whole family: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness... and above all, love.

Today’s feast of the Holy Family and the readings give us a blueprint for family life.

How will reach out to the other members of my family? Will I become aware of their needs and get out of my comfort zone to meet those needs? Will I put on compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love?