The Holy Family 9 January 2022 Anchored in faith
We are coming out of the Christmas season, in which time we have contemplated the mysteries of the Incarnation of Christ, and what that means for us.
Why did Christ come as a baby? To identify more fully with our human condition, and to prepare us for sometimes long waits for the next thing to happen.
The Messiah came as a baby, and then waited thirty years before beginning His saving activities. This is probably much slower than we would have done things, had we been in charge!
A tall building needs very strong foundations. We could say that a major work of redemption needs a sold foundation too. And this private time of Christ was such a foundation.
He was sanctifying the world, quietly, just by His presence and His prayer, maybe the occasional miracle.
The house of the Holy Family was an oasis of holiness in a sin-infested world. How much good must have emanated from that house – in prayer, in charity to neighbours, good actions, and most of all everything directed to the glory of God.
Going back to the foundation we learn a lot about all the necessary virtues - patience, humility, trust in God, openness to His will. These are all things we need in abundance.
We are not so well-prepared as Mary was, so we have some work to catch up. She was so immersed in prayer that even when an angel appears she still maintains composure. How would we respond to such an event?
Mary’s calmness in the face of divine activity tells us that we must be ready at all times to receive whatever God chooses to send. It will not usually be anything spectacular, nevertheless He does have many ways of communicating with us. We want to be able to read the signs, whatever they may be.
It there is no clear message we can cope with that too. We are not always looking for something different. Sometimes we know well enough what is needed; in which case we are trying to summon up the grace to take our place in the process.
A lot of our moral life is like that. A lot of the family situations which test our charity, for instance. We don’t need an angel to appear to us to tell us to talk kindly to those with whom we live.
And as the Church we know what we have to do, most of the time. It is just a matter of doing it well, and better. Charity, Evangelisation, Catechesis etc.
We want to be as cooperative as possible. And as unresisting as possible.
Prayer, sacraments, good works, self-denial – they all help. We are ready then for a once-only event, or for the general foundational work that is essential.
The Church needs a core of strong believers and enthusiastic members. Strong and enthusiastic enough to be able to go against the tide, to pray when others do not, to wait and hope against all appearances.
The Holy Family, we can be sure, never missed a day of prayer. Nor should we. If you are the only person in your family who believes, or you live alone, draw upon your ‘other’ family, which we all share – the Church.
Thirty years tells us that the quiet build-up is necessary, and also fruitful.
For us here, now, we make our own personal commitment to stand with the Lord through whatever lies ahead, and we make reparation for all times we or others have allowed the cares of life to distract us.
We call upon Jesus, Mary and Joseph to let us into their ‘house’, and help us in all aspects of our lives - the practical, the mundane, the spiritual, the local and universal, the future near and far.
On such a foundation as they provide, we will not fall.
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