“SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”
Daily Spiritual Reflections
26th December 2021
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SUNDAY, FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH
1 Sm 1: 20-22,24-28; Ps 84:2-3,5-6,9-10; 1 Jn 3: 1-2,21-24; Lk 2: 41-52
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FAMILY LIVING IN GOD'S PRESENCE
The feast of the Holy Family is celebrated in the Catholic Church to honour Jesus of Nazareth, his mother the Blessed Virgin Mary and his foster father Joseph as a family. This feast falls on a Sunday following the Nativity of our Lord Jesus. The sole purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families and of God’s family (the Church). It commemorates their life together as a family through the flight into Egypt. This feast was observed by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from early times and was formally instituted in 1921 by Pope Benedict XV in the Catholic Liturgy. Originally it was celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany, but later in the year 1969, it was moved to the Sunday after the Christmas bringing it within the Christmas season. It began with local and regional celebrations of the Holy Family from about the 17th century, which led to growth in devotion and the foundation of several religious congregations under this title. The feast of the Holy family is not only about the Holy Family but about our own family too. Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the church in our homes. How does one live out the church in the family? It is by making Christ and his Church the centre of our family and our individual lives.
The first reading of today tells us about a holy couple who dedicated their child Samuel to God’s service. The child was offered with a lot of devotion and preparation. The mother of the child was already prepared to offer the child into the hands of God and she says to her husband “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell therefore ever”.
In the second reading from the first letter of St John, we are told that we are the children of God. if one’s heart does not condemn him that means he or she has confidence in God and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do His will and more than that we have a sure confidence in Him. It is said whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. By this, we know that God abides in us by the holy spirit whom He has given us. The reading insists that God abides in us till we are his children doing His will without any condemnation and ignorance.
The Gospel reading presents to us the loving care that is shown to Christ Jesus by Mary his mother and Joseph, his foster father when he was lost and found in the temple. They searched for him for three days and finally, they found him in the temple questioning the elders and fascinating them with His beautiful answers. And Jesus went down with his parents to Nazareth and was obedient to them and he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man. This is an example of a model family bound by the love of God the Father. The love of God to the human family was showered through the gift of an infant, his son, into the care of Mary and Joseph. Here the sacrifice of Joseph and Mary towards Jesus the son of God was an enormous one and they gave a suitable environment for the child’s development and growth in maturity. The Holy Family kept all the things among themselves and showed to the world a beautiful, loving and peaceful living of family life. So in a way, each married couple is called to participate in God’s mission of bringing peace and harmony in society through a life of honest sacrifice and love.
As we are in the Christmas octave, let us keep in mind the value of life and dignity of the family safe in our society and community. Each child is formed in love, by his or her family, by the love they share, and by the trials they undergo together. We have seen how the family of Samuel led him into God's temple. May we too lead our children into the paths of holiness and in in the paths and will of God. Let us pray for all families, especially those divided due to any reason, as we celebrate the year of "Amoris Laetitia Family." May we model our families in the life and communion of the Holy Family of Nazareth, always close to God and to each other.
Response: Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
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