The Roman Catholic Lectionary for today offers some
variety in the texts chosen to commemorate the feast of the Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The holiday season is drawing to a close and often this
time of closeness to siblings, children and parents is also being replaced with
the more distant relationship usual in the time of daily work and
responsibility. Father Larry Gillick SJ is moved to write of the similarity of
faith and love. Those who have been blessed, like the psalmist, to know the
fruit of a family which surrounds your table like olive shoots and among those
gathered are the children of your children have visible proof of the value of
the struggle to work with the leap of faith into a family relationship when we
know so little of ourselves. We depend on love to be the active agent of revelation
of who we are and who the people of our family can become through the action of
that Love. The wisdom of our parents and the values of our society are
preserved for us through the actions proposed in the Book of Sirach that we
attend to the care of our parents in manner suggested by Friar Jude Winkler as exaggerated
respect. The Letter of Paul to the Colossians
addresses the preference of the “Stoic influenced” Greek mind to have a set of procedures and
principles adherence to which will direct us to harmony with the Divine. Paul
lists the values and attitudes which we know facilitate the blessing of
relationships. The Gospel of Luke continues to build the journey of Jesus to His
Role of Messiah. This text shows the tension which exists between the
expectations of parents and children and our continuing need to appreciate the
will of God for their development may require our “yes” to directions which are
going to depend on our gift of faith for our peace. Friar Jude takes a
scholarly view of the foreshadowing of the separation of Jesus from Mary for
three days during His Passion. The Holy Family models how faith works within
the dynamic of human experience to bring peace, love, compassion, patience,
hope and joy to our lives though our
families.
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