Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for December 30, 2007
Liturgical Year A- Cycle II
The Holy Family
By Fr. John Carney
 Topic: The Sanctity of the Family
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Reading I
Sir 3: 2-6, 12-14
God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother. Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard. Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.

My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives.  Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life; kindness to a father will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins—a house raised in justice to you.

Reading II
Col 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another,  if one has a grievance against another;  as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love,  that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,  the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,  as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,  singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs  with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed,  do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,  giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Gospel
Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night  and departed for Egypt.He stayed there until the death of Herod,  that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,  for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother,  and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea  in place of his father Herod,  he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, \ he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled,  He shall be called a Nazorean.
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We look to Jesus, Mary & Joseph as that perfect family.  For our inspiration, we pray to Mary & Joseph to intercede for us, to bless our families.  Of course, we ask Jesus to bless our families.  Families are an ongoing work, aren’t they?  It’s not until you are very old and the children have left the house and you are so old that you can’t even hear each other that everything is quite perfect.  That’s true.  You see couples that have been married for 50 years.  They love each other very, very much.  They don’t talk to each other, though.  There’s probably no need.  They’ve heard it all.  Actually, I think they have become one flesh and that’s why it’s so beautiful.  Those years before that perfect stage are tough.  Isn’t it tough?  I know that as a priest, living a celibate life that I have the easiest life in many ways in this parish.  I don’t argue with anyone at my house, except Andrew when he’s here.  Actually, we get along.  Yet we know how sacred and important the family is, don’t we?  It is really important.  As a matter of fact, it’s obvious that the family unit is the basis of our society, of any society.  The family has been called the church in miniature.  Vatican II reminded us that society and its well-being rests not on government or even democracy or laws or even the church.  The health of society rests on the health of the family. 
 
We hear a lot about family values this time of year.  This time of year is election time, but when isn’t it election time?  It seems like there’s a campaign always.  We hear a lot about family values as if they could be legislated.  Family values cannot be legislated and they don’t come from the government.  They come from us and they go up, so it’s a bottom-up reality, not a top-down reality.  Any time government attempts to solve problems without taking in the sacredness of the family unit, it fails.  A good example of that is the war on poverty in the 1960s.  The government, in a very well meaning way, tried to help people get out of the reality of poverty.  Now, 50 years later, we have the fourth and fifth generations, or at least the third and fourth generations, of people who have no men in their house.  There are no men, only boys.  There’s mom and children, but no father.  Part of that is a result of the situation that if there was a man in the house and he wasn’t gainfully employed, then the family couldn’t get welfare, so Dad got kicked out.  We have generations now of young boys growing up with no positive male role models.  I think the government thought that the father was somehow dispensable to solve a larger problem.  We all know what’s happened.  It created a larger problem.  I think the same is probably true of the reservation system of Native Americans.  They are clearly a failure and I think the problem may have been that the government didn’t look at the Native American, the integrity of their family, which are very sacred to them, and tried to solve other problems, disregarding the sanctity, the unity and the integrity of the family. 
 
Families are essential and that means fathers, mothers, and children.  We don’t make families without fathers, something that’s occurred in the last ten years.  Women deciding to have children by being artificially inseminated.  That is ridiculous and it hurts our society.  Fortunately, that’s not a great problem.  Even my comments today will offend someone, as if what I just said was somehow offensive to someone’s rights.  The right to have a child without a father is not a right.  It’s an abuse of God’s ways.  Values are created and nurtured in the family and they are carried up to our political leaders. 
 
So, what are these values?  Well, we heard a lot of them today in the scriptures.  The Book of Sirach talks about the family value of order.  I often say that the Holy Spirit is a curate of order.  “God set the father in honor over his children.  A Mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.”  The fourth commandment has a promise with it:  “Honor your mother and your father and it will go well for you.”  Do you hear that, children?  We’re taught that another value is respect for elders.  Those who have gone through most of their lives should be given a degree of deference and respect.  It says, “Take care of your father when he is old.  Grieve him not as long as he lives.  Even if his mind fails.  Be considerate of him.  Revile him not all the days of his life.  Kindness to a father will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the depths of your sins.” 
 
We’re taught in Colossians, the second reading, the value of accountability.  Paul tells us to admonish one another.  That happens in a family.  We warn each other in a family.  We especially warn children of what’s dangerous and what’s to be avoided.  We warn each other.  That’s part of loving, to warn someone who is going astray.  The scripture in Colossians talks about the value of virtue.  How are you doing?  How is your family when it comes to heart-felt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, baring with one another and forgiving one another?  The value of forgiveness:  “As the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.”  The value of thankfulness:  “Be thankful, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”  It talks about the great value, of course, of love:  “Over all these, put on love.  That is the bonds of perfection.”  Children can’t be taught to love.  The schools can’t teach our kids to love.  You don’t learn to love.  You catch it by being exposed to it, like a cold.  They learn that in the home. 
 
Finally, the value of being Christ-centered:  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”  If our families are Christ-centered, we will have His values that we know by the way He lives, the values of the Holy Family, and the values of scripture.  Then we’ll bring those values to the larger society.  Today, as we think of the Holy Family, as we look at the Nativity scene, we ask Mary and Joseph to pray for us and we ask Jesus to bless us, that we might be holy, holy husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, parents, children, grandparents, sisters and brothers.  We can’t fix the mistakes we have made.  We can go forward from this day and love each other as God loves us.  The opening prayer said it well today:  “Father, help us to live as the Holy Family, united in respect and love.  Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.  O, grant this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.”