Feast of the Holy Family

Way back in college, I had taken a Sociology of the Family class.  One of the basic tenets we learned was that cultures throughout the world perceive the family as the fundamental unit of support, and the instrument by which morals, mores, and traditions were passed on.  The family provided stability, and the procreation of children.  Now this is across cultural and economic lines.  This use of the family was in the most advanced western cultures, and in tribal cultures as well.

When John Paul issued his Familiaries Consortio, there were detractors who countered that John Paul was speaking about a family which had no bearing in reality.  What John Paul proposed was that the family was a sacred communion which included a father and mother, and their children.  John Paul detailed the importance of many of the same virtues which St. Paul speaks about in family life, that of patience, understanding, love, kindness, and gentleness.  John Paul encouraged the notion that the family was the domestic Church, with the father as the 'shepherd' of the family unit

What John Paul II proposed was not that much different than the research of many sociologists, over the course of a dozen years or so. The Gospel stories are replete with stories of crisis and chaos within families.  Today's Gospel of Jesus lost in the temple is no exception.  The Church is not naive in believing that all families exist as these loving and joyful entities.  But doing the work of faith, that is nurturing relationships, reconciliation, seeking healing where appropriate, and a family prayer life, lend to the holy life of a family. 

In our post-modern society we do not always recognize the value of a family in our lives.  If it does not lend to immediate gratification, or if it involves too much effort, our society wants no part of it.  As a faith concept, the family encourages a strong self-possession, worth, and values of the human person.  It continues the faith as the parents are the first teachers of the faith.  Further, the procreation of children is good for the communion of the family, and for the larger community as well.

But of course the family has to recognize, and imitate,  the sacramental nature of this union.  The family unit must somehow reveal Christ Jesus, and model the Paschal Mystery.

Mary and Joseph are astonished when they find  Jesus with the elders.  Prayerfully our astonishment can be complete in the holiness of the human family.