The Holy Family, God’s gift to humanity

When looking for family role models, we cannot find a better one than the Holy Family, and with good reason. It provides Christian families everywhere a glance into family life. By reflecting on their persons and unity as a family, we can gain a great appreciation for their importance as role models and see God’s plan for the family revealed in them. 

Chapter three of the book of Sirach reveals the structure of families as set forth by God. The Holy Family exemplifies this example of how we are to live as families. God sets a father in honor over his children and confirms a mother’s authority. 

Children who honor their father and respect their mother will receive all blessings. Their prayers will be heard and their lives will be rich with atonement and joy in their own children. Their strength will be found in honoring and serving their parents, and their kindness not be forgotten. 

In Colossians 3 we read these words: “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.” 

Husbands and wives tend to look at one another whenever they read or hear these words, perhaps remembering a time when they did not act according to this precept. Both parents may look at their children, silently planning to emphasize the part about obedience, while the children hear only the words about provocation. But the negative aspects of these words are not the point of the lesson. Loving, honoring and respecting one another is. It is what inspires the unity and love modelled by the Holy Family.

Honoring our parents, respecting our spouse and treating our children with kindness may at times seem impossible. Parents can be as annoying to children as the children are to them. Spouses do not always fulfill their wedding vows of total commitment and love. Children often do not behave as they should, especially as adolescents. Instead of showing unconditional love, parents often focus on their children’s wrongs rather than their postiives contributions.

Being family is not always easy; the sacrifices and challenges can be daunting, but that is what makes a family strong and unites us when we follow God’s plan. His plan is fully revealed in the Holy Family, in the persons of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Our gaze on them through the lens of Scripture reveals the fullness of their life and their devotion to God and one another. 

St. Joseph is described as a just and righteous man. His quiet heroism is often overlooked, yet he remains a profound figure in the life of Jesus. When we read the little that is written about him in the Gospels, we easily recognize him as a man whose life is directed by a great faith. That faith empowers him to be open to God’s design for his life, open to hearing God’s plan and open to acting on it. 

Four times in dreams St. Joseph heard God’s words and responded to them. As a faithful and prudent servant, he was obedient to the law, both God’s and the civil authority. He seemingly already knew how to render unto Caesar what was his and praised God for all other things. He went to Bethlehem to enroll in the census and to Jerusalem for Passover as prescribed by the Mosaic Law. 

We must not overlook his fidelity to Mary, living chastely with her even as she was with a child not his own. His love and compassion for her would not allow him to expose her. He worked hard to provide for Mary and when Jesus was born, took him into his care as his own son. 

Consider St. Joseph’s humility. He lived with the only two perfect people the world has ever known. His patience must have been great. Anything and everything that could possibly go wrong in his family was something that he could be at fault for. Nevertheless, he stuck it out, at the very least through Jesus’ twelfth year. Many of our early Church Fathers held the tradition that Joseph’s presence probably continued for some years beyond. His influence was still known when Jesus began His public ministry, for people remarked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the craftsman?”  (Mt 13:55)

Mary, as the mother of Jesus, is also known as the Mother of God and through our adoption in Christ, our Mother as well. We know much of her example: her receptivity, faithfulness, humility, obedience and self-sacrifice. We remember her as a woman of sorrows, but also of joy; as someone who showed great charity in her visit to Elizabeth; and, of course, as a woman full of grace. 

But we must not forget her silence, her contemplative side. Even as Joseph heard God’s words through dreams, Mary pondered all things that happened and held them in her heart of hearts. She was fully in communion with God, her husband Joseph and her Son Jesus. 

As the Son of God, the person of Jesus is well known to us. Our faith is wrapped around His person, informed by His life, and sealed by His Passion, Death and Resurrection. For this reason not much needs to be written here to remind us of His role in the Holy Family other than to recall Luke’s words when Jesus was found in the Temple: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them…And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” 

Notice the common acts of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. They were all open and obedient to God’s word, faithful and humble. They never put themselves first. This is the example they have given us, and they are God’s gift to us. As we continue our journey toward God, let us reflect on the Holy Family and follow their example. May our words and actions always reflect the unconditional love we find in the Holy Family.