My friends, Holy Family Sunday, referring mainly to Mary and Joseph and Jesus is a wonderful time to consider what “family” means to each of us—the families that we grew out of, and perhaps the families that we helped to establish and maintain as adults, and into the present.  And, from a certain viewpoint, to consider how each family is a “holy” family.

   The original “holy” family is a good example for all of us to follow in our own “holy” families.  We know from their actions that Mary and Joseph loved each other—always the best place to start when forming a family. 

   Now, you might be asking, how do I know that Mary and Joseph loved each other? –as the Scriptures don’t tell us that.  If we take the Christmas story at face value, and accept the fact that Joseph had nothing to do with the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb, then his action of taking her as his wife was indeed a loving thing to do. In the times that Joseph and Mary lived, a man in his position could either divorce a woman with child—not his own, make the “sin” known publicly, and open her up to the possibility of death by stoning, or he could do what Joseph did. It only makes sense that Joseph loved Mary before she “was found to be with child.” 

   Again, you may be wondering why I am spending time on this purely human component of whether this couple, that we have heard about all our lives in religious lore, loved each other or not, when the teaching authority of the Church never mentions this aspect either. 

    On Holy Family Sunday, as well as any time during our Church Year, really, it is most important, in my mind, at least, to remember, and never forget, that our loving God chose to become one-with-us, in our humanity, living life, as each of us does, attempting to be our own, “best selves.” 

   As we look around our own personal “world”—life, we might say, it is clear that most of us don’t accomplish that task as well as we might like to.  A further look around the world-at-large shows us the same.  So, having a model like Jesus to follow, in living to be our best selves is truly important.  Also, in moving into a loving relationship with another human being, Mary and Joseph are good models to follow. 

   We see from the gospel story today that this couple was faithful to the Jewish laws and precepts that they grew up believing in, by presenting Jesus at the temple, even though they were, “on the run” from Roman authorities—but to Mary and Joseph, this was an important action that they must do!  And the Spirit of their God worked through Simeon and Anna to confirm the truth of the miracle that had befallen them in Jesus.  So, we could say, with quite a bit of assurance, that Joseph and Mary were people of character, as well as a couple who loved each other. 

   And into the home that Joseph and Mary established, the baby, later child, Jesus, grew “in wisdom and grace” the Scriptures tell us.  Another aspect of their characters was the fact of the “faith” with which Mary and Joseph lived their lives.  Again, if we think about the story as given us in the Scriptures, only faith and trust in a Loving God makes it possible to believe such a thing.  And we only need to put ourselves into the story to see how we might have reacted to the tale that Mary told. “Love and faith can move mountains” our brother Jesus said during his public ministry, and it would seem that both had to be present, along with other strong character traits to make this “Holy Family” function as it did—to be able to eventually give Jesus to the world, a man of love who witnessed this example within the family he grew up in.

   Scripture also doesn’t mention whether our brother Jesus had siblings, but more than likely he did. In some exegesis on this topic that I once read, and the author I can’t remember at present, stated that we can’t find the answers to every question in Scripture because generally that which was understood wasn’t written down, only that which was different.  In other words, it would have been natural for more children to have followed Jesus’ birth for a loving couple such as Mary and Joseph, so it wasn’t written down. 

   The other chosen Scripture readings for this feast from Sirach and Paul to the Colossians, lay out more elements that make for good families to somewhat show us the way, in general terms.

   Sirach basically tells us that “respect for parents” should be part of a family; but also this must go both ways—respect for children coming from their parents as well. 

   Paul goes on to say to the Colossians that, [parents should not] “nag” their children.  He also addresses the original “relationship” between two people “committed to each other” that they would submit to each other [equally] and that they should “love each other.”

   So my friends, knowing that most of my brother priests would be addressing this “Holy Family Sunday” on a more ethereal level, I wanted to speak in a more human way about the purely, everyday lives that I believe Mary, Joseph and Jesus lived,  in what we might call, “the growing up years” for Jesus, as he more than likely came to terms about who he was and what was expected of him, a little at a time.  Again, we must remember that God, in Jesus chose to come into humanity as a human, to truly know our existence, and to show us how to live it well. If Jesus is to be emulated by us, than he would have needed to have lived the same life that we do.  And to me, that is a great love story!  And one that I can try to emulate!  Amen? Amen!