Holy Family Year B

 

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. In the Gospel today, the Holy Family went to the temple to present Jesus to God the Father, through the priest. We know they were poor because they offered two pigeons as a sacrifice. The more wealthy parents would offer a lamb to be given as a sacrifice, but poor people could not afford a lamb.

Joseph and Mary were obedient to the laws of the temple, which is why they brought the Child Jesus to the temple. They also would have had Him circumcised 8 days after His birth.

Unfortunately, the joy of the event in the temple was marred by the prophecy of Simeon, who said, the Child would be destined for the fall and rise of many and a sign of contradiction, and Mary’s Heart would be pierced by a sword, meaning, something would happen to the Child Jesus, that would break Her Heart. This was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified and Mary stood beneath the foot of the Cross.

When Jesus came into the world as our Savior, He wanted to start His redemptive task in an ordinary simple family. The first thing Jesus sanctified by His presence was the family. Nothing extraordinary happened from His Childhood until He was 30 years old. He lived a silent life, unknown to the world, in the midst of a family. Yet, His active ministry was for only 3 years. What does that tell us, that God spent 90% of His life on earth in a family?

Joseph was the head of the family according to the law, and he provided for the needs of the family by his carpentry work. Jesus too learned how to do carpentry from Joseph. Joseph, as head of the family was also the protector and guardian of the family. He is the one the angel appeared to tell him to take his family to Egypt and later to return to Nazareth.

No one knew Jesus better, then the Virgin Mary, because She lived with Him for 30 years before He began His public ministry. Mary taught Jesus to walk, to put on His clothes, to read and write and to pray. She spent every day of Her life, like millions of other women who look after their families, sewing, cleaning, and cooking. Some wrongly think ordinary tasks of the home are unimportant and insignificant. Yet, when ordinary simple life is done out love for God, it sanctifies the family.

The Holy Family prayed together, went to synagogue together and to the temple feasts together. They followed the Jewish rituals and customs and were obedient to all the laws.

Between Jesus, Mary, and Joseph there existed a holy affection, a spirit of service, and a mutual desire for the happiness of each other forgetting about their own needs. The Holy Family is a model for families, in virtues and in doing God’s will.

Every Christian family is to imitate the house of Nazareth, a place where God is first, so that God can be at the center love that members of the family have for each other.

God must be first in every family, by making attending Sunday Mass the most important family event of the week. God must also be first at home, especially by praying together every night. Praying the prayer before meals is good, but the family should also gather each night for a short time of prayer. Each person can mention something they are thankful or something they want to pray for and then pray an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be or the family could pray the Rosary together. The father of the family as the spiritual leader of the family should lead his family at night in prayer and prayer before meals and bring the children to confession monthly. Remember, “The family that prays together stays together.”

Children should be encouraged to practice virtue and sacrificial love in the family. Parents and grandparents like brag to others about their children and grandchildren. When a child is successful, he or she begins to think their life is important, and that he or she has value and dignity. School activities can teach children self-discipline, team work, and respect.

But there is a deeper true reason for the dignity of children, and it can be obscured or lost or not discovered. Our dignity comes from the fact, that we are children of God and created in His image and likeness. Our dignity is independent of our accomplishments. And so children can think their dignity is the result of usefulness. A down syndrome child or child with a disability has equal dignity before God as other children. Their value is not measured in what they can or cannot do.

Some children are not able to do school activities, perhaps because they need to work to help the family financially. Working with a paying job, helps children to interact with adults and learn sacrifice and self-discipline.

Yet, how much more do children learn, when the child volunteers to do deeds of love for others. Such as mowing a neighbor’s yard or removing snow for free. Or volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping out at church.

Something I admire about Catholic schools, is that children are taught not only to excel in academics, sports, and the arts, they are taught to excel in virtue. They are taught to be disciples of Jesus. They learn what it takes to become a saint. In Catholic schools, they can openly pray together. They can do Christian activities and wear Christian symbols.

When I was an associate at St. Francis of Assisi in Wichita, a young boy came up to me and told me that Wilbur elementary would not let him bring his skate board to school because on the bottom of the skateboard he had inscribed a cross. In many public schools children are no longer able to sing Christmas Carols. They can’t sing Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World, or even sing I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Catholic school children are able to attend weekday Masses, and so receive Jesus in Holy Communion. They have daily religion classes and learn about the history of the church, morality, the sacraments, scripture, vocations, etc…

The mission statement for Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School is "to educate and form the total person in the image of Jesus Christ.” The mission statement for Bishop Carroll High School is: “To assist parents in forming disciples of Christ who enrich the culture as stewards of God's gifts.”

Catholic schools are not exempt from problems and difficulties, because every school is like a person, each has its weaknesses. Yet there is a tremendous difference in sending a child to Catholic school verses public school, especially because a child who attends Catholic school is more apt to practice their faith better, to come to the sacraments more often, and to incorporate their faith into everything they do, because they are taught that to be a disciple of Jesus is most important, and can have a great impact to society.

Years ago, I substituted a daily Mass for the priest at Bishop Carroll high school. The Mass was held in the gym and over 70% of all the youth at the school attended the Mass. It was optional for them. They wanted to attend.

I myself never attended Catholic school. I didn’t have the opportunity because the Catholic school I would have attended closed.

Today some families are opting to home-school their children. By homeschooling, the parents follow a particular approved home-school curriculum and personally teach their children about the faith. They create their own schedule. They are able to attend daily Mass with their children. Some home-school families are able to play sports and do other school activities with schools.

In fact Jesus was home-schooled. During His life, there wasn’t public schools or private schools. I would like to encourage parents to pray about sending your children to Catholic school. I was surprised to learn that a bus comes to St. Joseph’s in McPherson every day. One of the youth from McPherson told me 40 kids come from McPherson attend Trinity High School in Hutchinson.

How blessed we are to have Eucharistic Adoration every week, where families can come to pray to Jesus together.

No matter if children attend public school or Catholic school or are home-schooled, the words of Pope Saint John Paul II call parents to take their parenting role most seriously. JPII said, "Parents are the first and the most important educators of their own children…“By virtue of their ministry of educating, parents are through the witness of their lives the first heralds of the Gospel for their children. Furthermore, by praying with their children, by reading the word of God with them and “introducing them to the Eucharistic life of the church” --they become fully parents, in that they are begetters not only of bodily life but also of the life that through the Spirit's renewal flows from the cross and resurrection of Christ.”

Today, let us pray all families will become counter cultural, and return to the basics by imitating the Holy Family, in simplicity, in love, in prayer, and in service.

O Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us, that our families may be like your family!