It is customary to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday immediately following our celebration of the Birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. This year offers us the added bonus of celebrating this Feast’s Vigil Mass on the same day! This Feast and this Christmas season offer us a time to reflect on the quality of our own family life and to do so in the light of the Church’s (if not the world’s) “First Family.”
We easily imagine that life in Nazareth for the Holy Family must have been extremely happy. Yet, like every other family, they must have had their ups and downs, their joys and sorrows, their problems and difficulties. For example, there may have been problems with supplying the family’s needs on occasion. Surely, if one of them someone fell sick it was a source of anxiety for the rest of the family. This would have been especially true in an age when medical resources were few and relatively little was known about health and hygiene. It is entirely possible that, given the short life expectancy in those days, St. Joseph had already died by the time Jesus began His public ministry (when He was thirty). Many of the specifics regarding the Holy Family’s life in Nazareth are simply unknown to us, but there is no reason to think that the Holy Family was spared any of the pains or denied any of the joys of ordinary families. Let’s hope we find this encouraging and comforting.
When Jesus eventually did begin His public ministry, He obviously left Nazareth and surrounded Himself with “a new family,” the family of the world! Within that “new family,” we find all those who “heard God’s Word and kept it,” those who were committed to following His Way. These would have, of course, also included Mary His mother, for no one heard and kept God’s Word better than she.
On this Feast of the Holy Family let us remember that we are called to follow the example of Jesus, the example of His mother, and the example of His earliest followers. We are called to align ourselves with the family of the world. After all, we have one Father, we are all brothers and sisters, and we are called to care for each other accordingly.
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Quizás sea difícil para nosotros imaginar que Jesús, Hijo mismo de Dios, fuera realmente humano, que crecía no sólo físicamente, sino que también iba madurando como persona, y descubría poco a poco la conciencia de sí mismo, quién era Él mismo. Según el Evangelio de San Lucas 2, 39-40: “Una vez que cumplieron todo lo que ordenaba la Ley del Señor, volvieron a Galilea, a su ciudad de Nazaret. El niño crecía y se desarrollaba lleno de sabiduría, y la gracia de Dios permanecía con Él.”
Hoy, celebrando la Fiesta de la Sagrada Familia, la Iglesia nos ofrece el episodio en el Templo cuando Jesús tenía 12 años (San Lucas 2, 41-52). Después de todo lo que pasó ese día, la Sagrada Familia entera buscó siempre hacer la voluntad de Dios, pero hoy, en específico, vemos a Jesús afirmando que ha tomado conciencia de que tiene una relación especialmente íntima con el Padre y que lo que realmente importa para Él es la voluntad amorosa de Dios, su Padre. ¿Es eso también para nosotros realmente lo más importante, y no habríamos de crecer en nuestra intimidad con Dios?
Que Jesús nos ayude a madurar totalmente en el amor a Dios. Y que la Sagrada Familia nos haga ser (siempre) fuertes, valientes, y decididos. Que este año, a punto de expirar, sea para nosotros una llamada a tomar conciencia del papel que hemos de jugar todos por recuperar, fortalecer, y dar más vigor a nuestras familias en el conjunto de la sociedad.
