December 27, 2015

December 27, 2015 Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph 1 Samuel 1: 20-22, 24-28; 1 John 3: 1-2, 21-24; Luke 2: 41-52 I remember for years hearing about the Holy Family —Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I heard that they were a ‘holy’ family and I wondered what that meant. What is a holy family? I remember our family: mom, dad, my three sisters, my brother and myself all going to the 7am Mass each Sunday morning. That was the ‘rule’ in our family — we went to church together. I remember people saying especially to mom and dad, ‘What a wonderful family you have’; and I thought ‘Well try living in this family for a while and you will see what its like, especially when you’re the youngest and have no voice in things.‘ I remember my first sleep over—I went to my good friends’ house and he had 7 brothers and sisters. I slept in the attic which I thought was a neat ‘hide-out’…then the family became ‘active’ as all families do…it was crazy—running, shouting, arguing and a lot more. When I returned home I told mom, I think I’ll just stay here, I don’t have to go and stay there anymore. ‘Our craziness, I can handle.’ So my yearly impressions were wondering what the Holy Family was ‘really like’? AND on hearing the account of Jesus ‘getting lost’ in the Temple and how He ‘talked back’ to His mother, I thought, ‘well if I ever talked back in that way my dad would ‘kill’ me. Today we come to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. What does the story tell us? What can I gleam from this that will help me in my growth toward living and toward the Lord? Today’s readings start with the wonderful story of Hannah. She was married to Elkanah who also had another wife Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children but Hannah was childless This was looked upon with distain and she prayed and prayed for a child. She prayed “to the Lord, weeping copiously and she made a vow promising…if you give me a male child, I will give him to the Lord for as long as he lives.” She conceives and presents Samuel, the child to the priest Eli. We learn at the end of the story that God blesses Hannah with five more children. We know nothing more about them or what becomes of them. But Samuel becomes a holy priest, prophet and the last judge of Israel. And I though what bravery it was from Hannah to give up her only child. John in his letter tells each of us that we “are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been reveled. We do know that when it is reveled we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” So what does it mean that we will one day be like God? Theologians describe God as ‘Truth, beauty, and goodness…other terms are Glory, honor and power; we also hear the expressions defining God as all-knowing, all-powerful, and always present. God is perfect and God is love. So does this mean what we will be becoming? Yes,…well for one, I know that I have a real long way to go. So how can I interpret these readings and what is the message for me? Fr. Basil Pennington is a Cistercian monk and one of the spiritual giants. In his book, Seeking His Mind, he took forty scripture passages from the life of Christ and spent time on them in a process called Lectio Divina. In this method you read a passage over and over until you almost have it memorized, then you reflect on it, rest with it and then respond in your own words. He shares this process with today’s Gospel. “On the Feast of the Holy Family (the Sunday after Christmas) we hear the Gospel account of the loss and finding of Jesus at the time of His family’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when He was twelve, a story that has many touching aspects. What family could be holier than this family? And yet here Jesus causes worry, tension, and anxiety, and Mary gives vent to her anger—with all the pathos of a good Jewish mother. By God’s mercy and grace, our monastic community is a holy family, and we come from holy families. Yet some of us monks have painfully had to live though the experience of causing disappointment and anger in our families, when we left them and joined our monastic family. Many of those whom we loved saw our joining this family as something like a bad marriage—at least until they got to know this wonderful family we had joined. Within the daily life of our monastic family, as in any family, some cause tension and others give vent to their anger. Looking to the Holy Family, we need to remember that this can be done without any fault or sin. Certainly Jesus was sinless. It may seem to us that He could have warned Mary and Joseph. He didn’t. Why? Perhaps circumstances were such that this was not possible. The occasion and inspiration to be about His Father’s business arose, and He could not get to them in time. Even if we grant that, I just confess that if I were the father of that twelve-year old and He answered His mother’s expression of anguish the way Jesus did, I would have been sorely tempted to let him experience a bit of my anger. The fact is, we often do not really understand what is going on in the other. What seems to us as dead wrong, they, according to their lights, see as the right thing to do. And they find it hard to understand why everyone else doesn’t see it that way too. We cannot control all the emotions that rise in us. What we can do is this. As persons guided by our reason, enlightened by faith and by Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit, we can decide what we will do with our emotions. Mary on this occasion, and perhaps on many other occasions with her teenager, decided to express her anger, or at least her distress. ‘Child, why have You treated us like this?’ (I can easily hear my own mother’s voice here) If for a while there was tension, incomprehension, and even anger, in the end full harmony and due order were restored. The family returned home, and Jesus was subject to His parents. This was the climate for growth. And Jesus grew in wisdom, age, and grace. Here is the important point of this teaching (and the gospel stories are meant not so much to relate historical events as to teach): It is human to have misunderstandings, to cause tension and pain, to feel deeply about things. But whatever the misunderstanding, pain, or grievance, whatever the feelings and emotions, we need to let them go, and go on being a family of caring love. If this Holy Family could experience such tension and anger, then indeed we should not be surprised to find a certain amount of the same in our own holy families. If we can accept that even the holiest and sinless do cause tension, and do express their frustration and anger—accept it and pass beyond it and go on in a climate of love and care—we will have families in which we all grow in wisdom, age and grace.” So I reflect on: • How can I nurture love in those around me that is both affirming and challenging so that all can grow in wisdom, age and grace? • When have I lost sight of the Jesus I thought I knew, only to discover a truer, deeper Jesus? • “All who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” Do I let Jesus amaze me with His life, His teachings and His love? Sacred Space 2016 says, “In my Father’s house.’ Do I believe that the Father’s house may be found within me? If I do, I can perhaps open myself to an even greater wonder: ‘Those who love Me will keep My word, any My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.’” (John 14:23)