The Holy Family 2019 (A)

Sirach3:2-6; 12-14

Psalm 128

Colossians 3:12-21

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”     – Col 3:12-13

We are gathered here around the altar of Our Lord on the Feast Day of the Holy Family. As I settled into prayer in preparation for this homily I remembered my daughter who years ago, at three years of age, loved to go to the corner store, just two doors away from our family home. She referred to the corner store as the “liquorice store” for obvious reasons. She loved to buy liquorice. I can still see the quarter in her little hand as she joyfully handed it over to the storekeeper. I also remember the passing months and how she didn’t want me to go into the store with her, because she knew what she wanted. She was becoming a big girl, and her fourth birthday was just around the corner so she didn’t need the supervision of her dad to buy liquorice. Soon, she didn’t want me waiting outside the store because she could walk there herself. I, of course, would be waiting outside our house as she walked the 80 ft down the sidewalk.

Raising a family is a process of letting go…in trust that enough seeds have been planted and have taken root to help them navigate life in this wonderful but deeply wounded world.

I also remember when my son was about three years of age. He and I witnessed a couple of dogs viciously fighting near the Halifax Common. I remember him crying and asking me to, “Make them stop, daddy!” My thoughts were focused on protecting my son as the dog owners yelled and tried to regain control of their pets. My son’s thoughts, however, were focused on his father seemingly being capable of fixing this scary situation.

At that age, of course he would reach out to me to “make it stop”. Like most parents in most situations we have a good track record in our child’s limited experience of carrying out our role as protector and make-it-go-away guru. We brush dust off small scrapes and administer the loving medicine of a kiss and an ‘all better”. For the most part, we make problems go away. That’s what we do. It’s a function that comes with the territory but it doesn’t last and, really, never truly existed anyway.

The only truth active throughout these early day of parenting is the truth of self-giving love; everything else is a deception of control which will be unveiled by the child through the healthy blossoming into maturity.

We don't control very much in reality...so, how do we let go in trust? For this, let's turn to the Holy Family.

In Scripture there is not a great deal written about the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus, but here are a few things we do know:

-       They were very poor.

-       They lived in a time when their people were under persecution.

-       They were faithful and kept the religious observances

-       They suffered persecution  – they became refugees.

Here we are in the midst of the Christmas season. A season when we celebrate God coming in the flesh as a vulnerable little child, born into a poor family, under the thumb of a coercive empire. And we cannot reduce this truth to sentimentalism because on the heels of this great celebration of God coming in the flesh we are thrust into the madness of the world, the martyrdom of Stephen, the mayhem of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents and Mary, Joseph and Jesus fleeing to a foreign land.

Sometimes life is tough.

According to the United Nations, there are currently 71 million displaced people worldwide. Nearly 60% of them are from Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan. Venezuela is the fastest growing. There are 26 million people living in refugee camps.

We live in a wonderful world but it is deeply wounded. And yet our faith teaches us that God has not abandoned us, God is with us and that we have to carry one another’s burdens.

At risk of oversimplifying important concepts, let me say that religious organizations like the main square, the big gatherings, important people and pomp and ceremony. Faith, however, is worked out in the alleys, with the people, with the poor and the lonely, the sick and the suffering. Faith brings us alive in our humanity. We may go into the square to celebrate it, that's good, but it is truly lived out in the humility of our own lives; among the contours and challenges of life.

Faith adores the child in the manger, stands in awe of the Magi and shepherds who, like us, see something special in this child and who follow him to the cross. Faith leads us to weep with the widow, to grieve with parents and grandparents, to show compassion to the weak, kindness to the separated and divorced, meekness to the single mom, humility to the refugee…

Like my experience of parenting, we learn to let go a little more to ourselves, to enjoy the sentimental moments but to know they are fleeting throughout the pilgrimage of life. Here we grow into our beautiful reliance on one another in fidelity to the Holy Spirit so our gifts can blossom and we can deepen in our own freedom as we encourage others to be free to be the person they were created to be.

To the political, reflecting on the Holy Family is inconvenient. To the spiritual, it is the deep well of joy which carries us through the beautiful, arduous pilgrimage of life where we become fully alive in the complex mix of where vulnerability confronts the fear of the unknown and finds its rest in deep intimacy with Christ, Our Risen Lord, and sacramentally through the Eucharist.

The Holy Family represents faith, hope and love that satisfies the soul. It brings us alive in hope beyond all hope. It is grounded in faith and clothed in love for every one of us.

May we take comfort in knowing that God is indeed with us and let the words written to the Colossians wash over our souls as we navigate the challenges of life in this wounded world, and our own wounds: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Amen.