Homily for December 30, 2012: The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

[saveliberty]

Homily for December 30, 2012: Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

 

 

 

December 29, 2012 By Deacon Greg Kandra

 

[Click here for readings]

 

I’m struck every year by the timing of this feast, celebrating the Holy Family.

It comes on the first Sunday following Christmas, when a lot of us have started to overdose on family. In fact, after the parties and cooking and visiting and obligations and expectations and disappointments, some of us have had about as much “family” as we can take. Parents are wondering when the kids go back to school. A little togetherness goes a long way – for every generation.

 

But then comes this feast. We are challenged to look at what it means to be family. And our eyes turn toward the Christmas crèche, the nativity scene.

 

During this time of year, we tend to sentimentalize the Holy Family – they become figures of plaster and paper, not flesh and blood. But we forget: they weren’t that different from us. They were holy, yes. But they were also human.

 

The story of the Holy Family is the story of life not always turning out the way you expected. It’s the story of a teenage mother, conceiving a child before she was married. It’s the story of an anxious father, confronting scandal, planning on divorce. It’s the story of a family forced to become refugees, living as immigrants in the land that once held their ancestors as slaves. As we heard in today’s gospel, it’s the story of a missing child, and days of anxious searching by his parents.

 

*******

 

Read the whole thing

Edited December 30, 2012 by saveliberty

[saveliberty]

More about the Feast of the Holy Innocents (Dec 28th):

 

 

Spirituality: The Feast of the Holy Innocents

 

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the day in which the Church commemorates the lives of the innocent children lost in the massacre of the first born by King Herod at the time of Christ's birth. In this archived piece, Father Steve Grunow reflects on this event here, taking a deeper look at the true loss that occurs upon rejecting the advent of Christ.

 

One of the most cherished carols of the Christmas season is often presented as a melody without lyrics. For this reason, the tune is familiar, but the words of the carol are not. The carol of which I am referring to is known as the Coventry Carol, which originates in a 16^th century “mystery play” called the Pageant of the Shearman and Tailors. The play and the song concern the massacre of the young children of Bethlehem at the command of King Herod, a story that is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The Coventry Carol is a lament that is imagined in the play to have been sung by the mothers whose children have been murdered by Herod’s cruelty; it combines the sound of their weeping with the gentle cadences of a lullaby:

 

Edited December 30, 2012 by saveliberty

[saveliberty]

And from Father Robert Barron-

 

Sermon 625 : What Makes a Family Holy : Feast of the Holy Family

 

 

12/30/2012

 

 

Please click the play button above to listen now.

Today the Church calls our attention to not simply the importance of family life, but the necessity that our families be holy. Holiness is discovered in the realization that our lives are not about ourselves, but are meant as a gift for others. The families that embody this radical gift of self to each other imitate the Holy Family of Christ.

 

Download MP3 File (Right-Click, Save Link As…) | readings | podcast