The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph [A]
Sirach 3:2-6,12-14  +  Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
December 30, 2016

“He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth….”

The Holy Family, still weary from their journey to Bethlehem, and weary from their search through Bethlehem to find suitable lodging, were forced after Christ’s birth to flee their own country for the foreign land of Egypt, out of fear for Jesus’ life.  But this was only the first of many sorrows for the Holy Family.

When parents bring their child to the baptismal font, God adopts their child.  It is the Father who has a plan for each child’s life on earth, and parents are responsible for helping that child to discern that vocation.  Each child is meant for the life of Heaven, not the pleasures of earth.  This world is our means, not our end.

Yet we all know that our world is troubled, and that our country is troubled.  We don’t have to dwell on that.  The cure is right here before us.  The cure is to strengthen the family, to build up the family, and to improve family life, which builds up in turn the life of our community, country, and world.

The home is a treasure if it is based upon our heavenly Father’s home:  if prayer is at its center.  The home is “the domestic church,” “the school of discipleship,” where to live in peace, a person has to learn how to be humble and how to serve the needs of others.  As you offer up your own sacrifices with Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, make it your prayer that you might imitate Him in your daily life:  to know the needs of others with the Wisdom of God, and to serve the needs of others with the Love of God.