“When they had done everything the law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favor was with him.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Amen. Good morning my brothers and sisters in Christ! Today, as most of you have known already is the Holy Family Sunday: The holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that is a model of all families.
The modern age has waged war against the family at all sides with the hope that one day it would succeed in annihilating the family all together. This is what prompted his Holiness Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation (Familaris Consortio) to state: “The family in the modern world, as much and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture”. Although the modern world would love to have it otherwise, the family remains the basic unit of human society as well as our early learning centre.The family is and still will continue to be that “society” from which we all come, which we carry along with us, and which we consciously or unconsciously refer back to. The family is fundamental indeed. From it, we receive our major orientation in life. The family gives us our sense of direction, our philosophy of life, our basic values, and our spiritual and moral major points of reference. The family has therefore far-reaching consequences on the Church, Government, and society as a whole. Human beings are social animals, nobody strives in isolation, and we flourish in relationships. Indeed, people need people and somebody needs someone. The family is the first school, the first church and first social club as it were. The family is first credo of the human affection and foundation of human relationships. The family is the first place of primary belonging and the place where the growing child has his or her first experience of being held, being loved and being listen to and being nurtured. The family is the place also where the child is introduce into the life of faith and fitting environment for grooming in values and virtues. Modern developmental psychologists are of the opinion that many personality disorders of grownups have their roots in a dysfunctional and dislocation families that often trigger early childhood trauma. Many Criminals, Sycophants and social – pats, all come from dysfunctional families. It appears that every word and deed of a parent amounts to a fiber woven into the child’s character. Thus what a father says to a tiny child is held by prosperity and what a mother sings to a child in a womb could go all the way to the grave. One could rightly conclude that if all families are well the society is going to be well and the nation is going to be well.
A teacher was teaching his Sunday school kids about the importance of the family and things that money cannot buy. “Money can’t buy laughter and it can’t buy love” he told them. To illustrate his point he said, “What would you do if I offered you $1,000 not to love your mother and father?” The whole class fell silent. Finally a small voice queried, “How much would you give me not to love my big sister?” Evidently it is easier to love vertically than to love horizontally. The love between parents and children or grand-parents and grand-children comes more easily to us than the love between siblings.
On this feast of the Holy Family, St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians (3:12-21) reminds us of the need to love one another since we are all children of the one family of God. When we talk of the Holy Family in (capitals letters), our mind goes to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. But there is another holy family with (small letters), that is the larger family of God, the family constituted by all who call God their Father, the family of the children of God. St. John starts off by reminding us of the great mystery of God’s love which has made us into real children of God. “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). Even though for John the details of our final transformation on the Last Day are not yet clear, two things are clear: (a) we are God’s children now, and (b) on the Last Day, we will become like God. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:3). John establishes the fact that we are God’s children, and therefore, we are a family. He is not saying that we should or we will be a family in the future. No, he says that we are a family now. When we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, we are also celebrating ourselves as God’s children, for we also are a holy family.
Having established the fact of what we already are, John goes on to point out how we should conduct ourselves in the light of who we are. Being children of God brings with it a twofold responsibility. “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23). You can describe this twofold responsibility as faith and neighborly love, or love of God and love of neighbor. As believers we are God’s children. We are a family. But we still have the choice to be true or false members of the family of God. True children of God are those who strive to live by the twofold commandment of love of God and love of neighbor. Here again we see the two dimensions, vertical and horizontal.
The vertical dimension, as we said, appears to be the easier one. It is fairly easy to proclaim one’s faith in God and profess one’s love of God in pious hymns and prayers. The test for the authenticity of our faith claims, however, lies in the horizontal dimension: How do we measure in terms of practical love of our neighbor? John will state this principle more clearly in chapter 4 where he says, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).On this feast of the Holy Family, the Church invites us, through the First Letter of John, to become in practice what we are indeed. We are a family; let us live like a family. We start by making our natural families into more loving homes. To measure how much you are contributing into making your family a loving home ask yourself how much of the three A’s – Attention, Affection, and Appreciation – you are giving to each and every member of your family. We all need to give, as well as to receive, the three A’s in order to love and feel loved. Next to the home, is the church! The Church should be a family – an extended family – where we give and receive love. Take time today to look to your right or your left and notice a man, woman, teenager or child who could do with a little bit more of attention, affection and appreciation. Sure enough, our neighbor is found outside the home and the church, but if we can start being more loving in the home and the church we would be taking practical steps in living like members of the family of God that we are.A little boy greets his father as he returns from work with a question: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The father is surprised and says: “Look, son, not even your mother knows. Don’t bother me now, I am tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour?” the boy insists. The father finally gives up and replies: “Twenty dollars.” “Okay, Daddy,” the boy continues, “Could you loan me ten dollars?” The father yells at him: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Now, go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!” At night the father thinks over what he said and starts feeling guilty. Maybe his son needed to buy something.
Finally, he goes to his son’s room. “Are you asleep, son?” asks the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replies the boy. “Here’s the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” replies the boy and receives the money. The he reaches under his pillow and brings out some more money. “Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!” says the boy to his father, “Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?” This story has a message for this man and for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life.We have two lives to live: a private or family life and a public or professional one. These two lives should be in harmony but very often they are in tension. Whereas in the case of Jesus he resolved the tension by giving priority to his private life, we, unfortunately, often try to resolve it by giving priority to our professional life, leaving our family life to suffer. Rose Sands writes about the unhappy man who thought the only way he could prove his love for his wife was to work hard. “To prove his love for her, he swam the deepest river, crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.” The celebration today of the holy family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus reminds and challenges us to value and invest in our private life with our families before our professional life at the work place, even when our job is as important as saving the world.Many families in the world today are facing a lot of challenges. These challenges come in various ways, shapes and sizes. Some families have been divided into several pieces on account of these challenges because often time people face the wrong direction when problems come upon them. The truth we must accept is that there is no perfect family in the world. There is also no family without one form of trial or the other; of course without a test of our faith there would not be a testimony.
Finally, as we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the model of all families, it is nice to come together as a family give a face-lift to their structure in order to make them fresh and more reintegrating as the New Year draws near. This is an auspicious time for families to take some time to evaluate their strengths weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. This will be a time to accept our mistakes, make amends and work toward a better and more rewarding life in the family. Whichever family you find yourself in is divinely willed: it is not by accident that you are a member of your family. There is a purpose for your being where you are now. Some people waste their lives blaming their families for all the ill situations in their lives, thus cursing the darkness instead of bringing in a light. Though your family background may not be good enough, but your background has no right to keep your back on the ground.In conclusion, let us not forget in hurry, some families and communities in plateau State Nigeria that were attacked during Christmas period. Over 140 persons in 20 communities lost their lives. We commiserate with the bereaved families that lost the loved ones and pray for quick healing for those injured. I call on government and other agencies to come the help of Internally Displaced Persons as a result these merchants of death who are bent on their agenda of confusion. May God heal our pains, our hurts and wounds! May their death lead to the conversion of the unrepentant perpetrators of evil and their sponsors: Amen!Happy Family Sunday and fabulous New Year 2024!
+Ab Matthew AUDU Jos
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