Weekend Reflections for 12/28/18

The Holy Family 

The Church gives us this Sunday in recognition of the spiritual value of our family experience.  It’s in our life within our family that we learn to love and forgive, to share and celebrate. Our God is a family, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is born into a human family and it’s there that he learns what it is to be son. We’re all familiar with the Gospel story of his staying behind in Jerusalem in the Temple and Mary and Joseph’s frantic and anxious search for him. When they find him, Luke writes that he returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them.

“And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

Like us, Jesus was formed by the strong personalities and example of his parents. Joseph was the provider and protector, the quiet and responsible man. I’ve often heard that the greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother and Joseph certainly loved Mary and Jesus. He modeled for Jesus what Abba meant. Mary taught him sensitivity and compassion for others, how to be nurturing and caring. We see all of these in how Jesus treated women in the Gospels. Mary and Joseph lived their profound faith in a loving and merciful God.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us.

Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.