The Sunday within the octave of Christmas is always
dedicated to contemplation of the Holy Family, giving us the opportunity to
meditate on the way in which the family structure, established by God and perfectly
mirrored in the Holy Family, reflects His own familial nature (as Father, Son,
and Spirit) and shows us the truth about ourselves and our deepest longings for
love, acceptance, and communion with other persons.
The Readings for this beautiful feast provide the celebrant
with many options. I will have to limit myself to some remarks
on the First Reading and Gospel proposed for Year C. (For an overview of the options, see Fr.
Felix Just’s excellent website dedicated to the Lectionary. Click here.)
1. The First Reading
option for Year C is 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28, the preferred choice to complement
this year’s gospel:
In
those days Hannah conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his household
to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband,
"Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."
Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:
"Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD."
Hannah left Samuel there.
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his household
to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband,
"Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."
Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:
"Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD."
Hannah left Samuel there.
Hannah is one of the more important types of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in the Old Testament.
Hannah’s name is a feminine form of the Hebrew word for “grace” or
“favor,” (Heb. hēn), so her
name is quite literally “Grace,” a foreshadowing of a woman who would be “full
of grace” (Luke 1:28). Both women,
Hannah and Mary, had natural impediments to childbirth: Hannah was barren, Mary
was virginal. Both bore sons who were
answers to prayer, boys who became priest-prophets and saviors for their
people. Thus it has long been recognized
that the narratives about Samuel’s childhood in the early chapters of 1 Samuel
have influenced Luke’s telling (or else his source materials) for the infancy
narratives in Luke 1-2. For example, it
is useful to compare Hannah’s song of thanksgiving in 1 Sam 2:1-10 with the
Blessed Mother’s “Magnificat” in Luke 1:46-55 and note the many
similarities. Again, we may note that
Luke twice refers to Jesus “growing in wisdom and favor with God and men” (Luke
2:40,52), which is modeled on the summary of Samuel’s childhood in 1 Sam 2:26.
The point of the similarities is that the life and ministry of Jesus
is not unexpected and unanticipated.
Though he is the unique God-Man, yet the people of God have been
prepared for his coming over centuries by a chain of great prophetic saviors
who foreshadowed him.
This Sunday's First Reading has a particular parallel to the Gospel: in both
narratives, the young boy-prophet is brought up to Israel’s central sanctuary
and left there.
Before moving on to the Gospel, let us remark briefly on the
moral or practical sense of this First Reading, that is, how it may instruct us
in a lifestyle that pleases God. In this
passage we see that the conception of Samuel is the answer to his mother’s
prayer, demonstrating God’s ultimate power to open and shut the womb. The Catholic Church always shows reverence
for God’s sovereignty over matters of life and death, in part by refraining
from the illegitimate manipulation over both processes, whether through
contraception, in vitro fertilization,
surrogate motherhood, euthanasia, or unwarranted application of the death
penalty. It is strange that in an era in
which there is such respect for the natural order, such efforts not to disturb
the environment through “excess carbon emissions,” destruction of the
rainforest, or the introduction of genetically modified organisms, there yet
remains such contempt and disdain for Catholic reverence for the natural order of conception and
childbirth, and for the natural process
of death. Again, this Catholic reverence
is an expression of deference to the sovereignty of God in matters of human
destiny, a deference supported in today’s First Reading.
Again, in this Reading we note the generosity of Hannah,
that she corresponds to God’s generosity toward herself (God gave
her a son) by returning God’s love (giving her son to God). This correspondence
of generosity is a virtue we also see
in Our Blessed Mother, who, having received Jesus from God, in turn gives him
back to God at the foot of the cross (John 19:25). This example is instructive for those of us
who are parents. We need to be reminded that our children are ultimately gifts
from God, given to us not to simply please us and perpetuate a family legacy,
but given to us to be cared for on God’s behalf, and ultimately offered for his
service. And although our children can
serve God in many ways, this text reminds us that many are needed for the
service of “the sanctuary,” which is now the Church. Vocations are desperately needed for the
religious life and the priesthood, and these vocations are fostered at home, by
parents with generous hearts, gladly willing to offer their children for a life
of service to God and his people.
2. The Gospel is “The
Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple,” Luke 2:41-52:
Each
year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
"Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
And he said to them,
"Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
"Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
And he said to them,
"Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.
New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham proposes a rather direct connection between the text of our First Reading this Gospel portion. Bauckham suggests that the boy Jesus may have understood himself a priest-prophet designated from birth, on the model of Samuel, and that when his parents brought him up to the Temple on this occasion, he believed that the plan and expectation was that he would stay and begin his service in the Temple, as Samuel did. The theory is speculative, but worth considering. It would explain Jesus’ apparent confusion when his mother and father finally arrive: “Why were you looking? Did you not know … ?” In other words, Jesus thought his parent’s plan was that he would stay.
One of the obvious themes in this Gospel is the true origin
of Jesus, or in other words, the true Fatherhood of Jesus. Though Joseph is (rightly) called Jesus’
“father” by the Our Blessed Mother (“your father and I have been looking for
you”), nonetheless Jesus responds “Did you not know that I must be in my
Father’s house?”, reminding us of Jesus’ divine origin, and that Joseph was in
the end only his adopted father.
At first we are tempted to say that for most of us, this is
a difference between Jesus and ourselves.
We have natural biological fathers, but Jesus had God as his Father. But again on further reflection, we have to
admit that there is not so much difference—or better said, there is a closer
analogy between our origin and Jesus’.
Like Jesus, those of us who have been baptized have been “born of God,”
born in a supernatural way from a heavenly father: “To all who received him,
who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were
born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God” (Jn 1:12-13). This is the point of
the Second Reading option from 1 John
3:1-2, 21-24. Our
biological fathers are in a sense merely adoptive fathers, stewards of our
education and well-being until we can begin our lives of prophetic and priestly
service to God. All fatherhood has its
origin in God (Eph 3:15 [Greek patria]),
a point Jesus himself drives home with great force: “call no man on earth
‘father,’ for you have one Father in heaven” (Mt 23:9). In the church’s spiritual tradition, this
powerful doctrine of childhood to God is called divine filiation, and it is the source of great joy for
believers. As we contemplate the Holy
Family this Sunday, we need to ponder the fact that, like Jesus, we have a
supernatural origin from God the Father through the power of the Holy
Spirit. Having God as our Father makes
it possible for us to break out of patterns of sin that we may have learned,
consciously or unconsciously, from our human fathers—good men though they may
have been—and live in “the glorious freedom of children of God” (Rom 8:21).
The moral sense of this Gospel also contains important
reminders. Although the whole incident
with the loss of Jesus in the Temple was finally resolved without harm to
anyone, nonetheless we must recognize the event must have been a terrible
stress and strain on St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother. This account reminds us that even in a family
of two great saints and a divine child, misunderstandings arise and can cause
strain on relationships. Faithful living
of the Christian virtues can alleviate many of the more obvious dysfunctions in
family life, but are not a guarantee of
freedom from all stress and difficulty. There
is some consolation in realizing this, and we can thank St. Luke for recording
this incident, which reminds us that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph also had to bear
with the sufferings of a fallen world, even though they did not participate in
sin.
We are also instructed by the humility of Jesus, who being
already wise in the Scriptures at the onset of his manhood (age twelve being a
traditional time of transition from boy to man), nonetheless submitted to his parents
and was “obedient to them.” In families,
as in all human organizations, there has to be some order of authority for the
sake of the common good. Often it
happens that the one exercising authority is less gifted in various ways than
those he or she is entrusted to lead and care for. Such was the case in the Holy Family: St.
Joseph was entrusted with its leadership, though he was neither immaculately
conceived like his wife, nor divine like his son. Perhaps he was tempted at times to feel
inadequate to the job. Yet in his role
as father, he had the support of his obedient son and the trust of his wife,
which certainly must have been a great encouragement.
The role of the father is greatly under attack in
contemporary culture, and it is even becoming politically correct—even if
wholly false from a scientific and objective perspective—to claim that fathers
are optional, and children do just as well or better being raised, for example,
by two women rather than by their own father and mother. Yet the Scriptures assume that the Christian
father is one who takes responsibility for, and thus leads, his family under
the ultimate guidance of Christ himself.
So, in one of the optional second readings, we find that within the love
of the Christian family, there remains an order of authority:
Wives,
be subordinate to your husbands,
as is proper in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives,
and avoid any bitterness toward them.
Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children,
so they may not become discouraged.
as is proper in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives,
and avoid any bitterness toward them.
Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children,
so they may not become discouraged.
This beautiful yet challenging text
lays out the reciprocal responsibilities of the members of the Christian
family. Jesus’ example of obedience to his parents reminds us that deference to
proper authority is not based on some “superiority of essence,” for certainly
the Lord’s parents were not superior beings to him.
The limit to obedience to authority is
always the threshold of sin, for to obey someone to sin is to disobey a higher
authority, God. Therefore this text of
St. Paul has to be understood in light of the full teaching of Christian and
biblical morality. Children are not
obliged to follow their parents into sin—including sins against themselves,
that is, against the children. Likewise
in the husband-wife relationship, the injunction to be “subordinate” only holds
in the realm of morally permissible action.
The leadership of the husband is only valid as he follows Christ—a
father’s authority in the home does not extend to violation of the law of
Christ and the Church.
As we mature in our relationship with
Christ, we begin to realize more and more than any position of leadership,
whether in civil society (mayor, governor), business (boss, manager), the
church (pastor, bishop), the home (father, mother) is a responsibility for the
well-being of others, and more of burden (from a human perspective) than a
privilege (see Matt 20:27-28; Mk 10:44-45; Lk 22:24-27).
Whatever our role in our respective
families, this Feast Day presents an excellent opportunity for us to make an
examination of conscience concerning whether we are living the virtues that make
for “happy and cheerful Christian homes” (a phrase of St. Josemaría Escrivà).
These virtues are largely listed in Colossians 3, one of the options for the
Second Reading. This text from
Colossians would be an excellent one to take to personal prayer sometime during
this Feast Day.
This Feast also presents us an
opportunity to ask for the intercessions of the Holy Family to live family life
while. In a particular way, those of us
who are fathers may wish to invoke St. Joseph for the help we need to fulfill a
role for which we often are inadequate if left to our own resources.
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