Sunday readings in brief: Holy Family Feast
1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28; Psalm 83(84); 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52
Importance of Family
My dear friends, today is the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This is a model family for all Christian families. Each of its members played their God-given roles well to attain salvation for humanity. We owe them reverence for this and the only way we can show our gratitude to them is to imitate them in our own families. Many people were blessed because of this family. Is my family a blessing to other families and soiety in general?
Family is the first human institution designed and intended by God for the growth and development of all individuals who come to this world. It is where all begins. If the family is solid and stable, the society and the nation benefit because there will be responsible leaders and citizenry in it. If the family is broken, the society also will be broken.
There are two types of families, those of blood relations and faith families. Blood families start when two individuals, a man, and a woman, come together and decide to share all they are and have with each other. In Gen 1:26-28, we read that God created man and woman in his own image and likeness, blessed them, and commanded them to multiply and fill the earth. God is the one who officiated the first marriage between a man and a woman. This is what makes the basis of the family, a union basedon mutual love.
Many families unite to build community which bound together by common heritage, culture, and values. The comunity members share similar values and maintain a clearly defined and way of life. However, the stability of any community depends on the stability of the individual families. This is because the individuals bring with them what they learn and live in their basic families to the wider communities. You cannot expect a community or a society to function properly if it isfullof broken families. This explains a lot about our society today, Doesn’t it?
The first readings tell the story of an old man hannah, who lived in frustration because he was already old, and with no child. Other women and the community had concluded that she was a cursed woman and she lived in shame and agony. However, Hannah did not lose hope but kept visiting the temple to to present her case to God. She believed that one day her tears wouldbe wiped off her cheeks. God answered her prayers in a miraculous way by giving her a son in a situation that was regarded as hopeless and impossible. Samwel would grow to become the first great prophet in Israel. When God’s time come to turn around our misfortunes, he comes in a great way. Are you in a seemingly hopeless situation right now? Well, everything is possible with God. You only need to keep the hope alive.
The typical human family consists of parents and their children who live together in love, peace, joy, and fear of God, facing their chalenges together. Sometimes this family is extended with close relatives living together. However, theough faith in Jesus Christ, a bigger and evenbetter family emerges to unite all believer in our family, The FAMILY OF GOD. They say that blood is thicker than water, but I dare say that faith is even thicker than blood. It unites all regardless of race, tribe, class, etc. It is in the family that we are “supposed” to get all the love and support we need. The family is the first school of values.. It is supposed to be the most secure place where an individual can seek refuge, physically, Psychologically, and Emotionally. It is the core of the society. Family is a beautiful thing and cannot be replaced by any other thing as an alternative. Do you think family is an important institution?
Nevertheless, today there are many challenges facing this institution. God created man and woman last and gave them freedom over all other creatures. They were supposed to take care of God’s creation for their own benefit. As we all know, this freedom led man and woman to ruin what was created holy and corrupted it with their disordered ambitions. Today things have become worse. Many people suffer in this world because either they do not have families, or their families are struggling to keep it together or already irreparably broken. Some did not choose to be in this situation but many are suffering because of the choices they or their family members made.
There are so many broken families in our society today because of rampant trivialization of the the core values, such us, love, reapect, discipline, and fear of God. Some break because they were built on the shaky foundation from the very beginning. Others break because of lackof ongoing formation. As a priest, I encounter numerous cases of broken families and others on the verge of breaking. The majority are at this juncture because things were not done well from the beginning. Many people go through incredible suffering because of the chaos caused by some members of their family. The majority of the victims are women and children. Men too suffer but they would rather not talk about it. Do you think that your family need to talk?
Disciplined and responsible love is what builds a solid and stable family. To build a family is not an obvious thing like many think. Since it is a sacred institution, those who want to build one need to be taught what it takes and keep sanctifying themselves. When a man and a woman decide to stay together and give birth to children without any form of values to govern them, that union cannot become a family and most probably, it will end up chaotic.
Though humans share many characteristics with other animals such as the ability to procreate, they are much more than animals. Many people choose to live at the level of animals and refuse to climb to the intelligent level of humans. God created man and woman with intelligence so that they could live like him. In many traditional communities, families are valued but there is a hierarchy of dignity among the members. In many cultures, women are treated like servants or slaves to their men. A community that discriminated against its women remains backward.
Christian family values make individuals aware of their respective roles and responsibilities to build a stable God-fearing society. They are supposed to sensitize and enhance the unity of the family. However, what we are seeing today are Christian preachers, denominations, and even pastoral groups that do not value the unity of the family and they are breaking many good families in the name of Jesus. Jesus is surely not part of that chaos. You cannot have one or some of the family members “saved” and others are not. The individualistic gospel is being preached today and its mongers promise prosperity to individuals at the expense of the other members of the family. My dear friends, if you come across someone who is only concerned about your personal salvation and is not interested in the salvation of your entire family, please run.
Any faith group that does not promote the unity of the family should be sanctioned and its leaders arrested because they are destroying the fabric that holds our society together. We have so much corruption in our society because people have not received basic values from the beginning of their lives. People who grew up in broken families and now are holding public positions may be having issues that those coming from solid families may not. Note, I said may becuase their might be exceptional cases.
Dear friends, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, let us look at our own families, and see how we are building or destroying them. If we have issues, we can always decide to do something about it before it is never too late as long as we are breathing. Even a dying person can make a big difference for his or her family. For those whose families are so broken, there is a lot one can do as an individual to salvage things. Always seek guidance from the right people and places. The devil is divisive by nature and his main occupation is to break what is united. Let us not give him a chance.
Have a blessed family feast.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
