Bulletin Column from December 26, 2021

Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish:

Praised be Jesus Christ! And Merry Christmas! The Sunday within the Christmas Octave (December 25th through January 1st) is always dedicated to meditation and focus on the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This makes a great deal of sense. The total reality of the Incarnation, of God becoming man, encompasses more than the mere event of his birth in Bethlehem. For God to truly become man he must be born into a family, and this Sunday’s Feast day underscores this fact.

Family life is a fundamental building block of God’s plan for the world. It is both a function of biology based on how God has fashioned us, as well as a function of intentional choices and dedicated commitments to others in the unit: vows between a husband and wife, and attitudes of respect and obedience among all in the household. In this way God’s laws and God’s grace build on what is basic to biology and elevate it to the level of the supernatural so that it becomes a means to grow in holiness. Family life is a pathway to sanctity, and sanctity occurs through all of the ins and outs and messes endemic to it.

Since births do not occur in isolation, and family life is so central to the fabric of humanity, God saw fit to be born into a family, and to grow up in a family. This Feast of the Holy Family is about the fact that not only was God born, but God also freely placed himself under the care of a mother and an earthly, legal father. God, in his profound humility, chose to obey and respect earthly parents, and to learn and grow as all humans must learn and grow. He chose to be in a household with daily concerns about shelter, food, clothing, chores, and work duties. This means that even the customs and piety of the Jewish faith were taught to the Lord by his parents. From Mary and Joseph, God learned how to pray, and God learned how to set the table for supper. It would not be inaccurate to say that the adult Jesus that we know from the Gospels was very much a product of his upbringing.

Two critical points, among others, can be taken from all of the above. For one, meditating upon the mystery of the Holy Family should allow us to marvel even more at the mystery and wonder of God’s dwelling among us. It fills in all the context of “Christmas” in a very important way. How humble and amazing is God that he would allow us mere creatures to teach him how to pray!

Also, the biological family unit does have an intended design, pattern, and purpose that is divine in its origins. A mom, a dad, and whatever children God sends is a template and standard that cannot undergo too many variations or adaptations before it becomes an entity that goes against God’s plan. Our contemporary society has attempted to normalize new adaptations to the traditional model that tragically do take us too far outside the boundaries of what is healthy and good for persons and for the world. Christians are blessed to possess all the teachings of Divine Revelation that shed the proper light on family life as God desires it to be. Our teachings on family life, with the example of the Holy Family at the kernel of them, are indeed “Good News” for us and for a wider world that more and more need to hear it proclaimed, and also need to see it witnessed by us who know and love the Lord Jesus.