Feast of the Holy Family, 2008

LUKE 2:22-40
ON TUESDAYS AND FIRST FRIDAY AT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH THE EUCHARIST IS PLACED IN A GOLDEN RECEPTACLE CALLED A “MONSTRANCE” AND PLACED ON THE ALTAR. CANDLES ARE LIT ON EACH SIDE TO SIGNIFY THE DIVINE PRESENCE. JESUS SITS ON HIS THRONE TO BE AVAILABLE TO HIS PEOPLE. AND PEOPLE COME; SOMETIMES THERE IS ONE, SOMETIMES THERE ARE AS MANY AS FIVE WORSHIPERS WHO SIT IN SILENT CONTEMPLATION, IN DIALOG WITH OUR LORD. ONE PROTESTANT MINISTER ONCE SAID THAT IF HE REALLY BELIEVED IN THE DIVINE PRESENCE IN THE EUCHARIST, HE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO STAY AWAY.
SIMEON AND ANNA WERE SOMETHING LIKE THOSE LONELY WORSHIPERS. THE TEMPLE CONSISTED OF COURTS; THERE WAS AN OUTER COURT FOR GENTILES WHO BELIEVED IN GOD BUT WERE NOT READY TO BECOME JEWS. THERE WAS A COURT FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AND A COURT FOR MEN, AND IN THE VERY CENTER OF THE TEMPLE WAS THE HOLY OF HOLIES, WHICH HELD THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD. THE TEMPLE WAS FILLED TO THE RAFTERS ON FEAST DAYS AND CELEBRATIONS; AND THERE WAS A CONSTANT FLOW OF PEOPLE IN AND OUT WHO CAME TO PERFORM RITUALS, OR HAVE THE PRIESTS OFFER SACRIFICES. BUT PEOPLE WENT ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS BARELY CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT GOD WAS PRESENT THERE.
EXCEPT FOR PEOPLE LIKE SIMEON AND ANNA. ANNA BELONGED TO THE ORDER OF WIDOWS. WIDOWS HELD A SPECIAL PLACE AMONG THE JEWS, BECAUSE THE SCRIPTURES SAID THAT GOD WAS THE PROTECTOR OF ORPHANS AND WIDOWS, AND THEY HAD A CLAIM ON THE TREASURES OF THE TEMPLE, THE CHARITY OF THE PEOPLE. BUT IN RETURN, WIDOWS TOOK ON TASKS; IN THE TEMPLE THEY MIGHT BE INVOLVED IN HELPING NEW PARENTS WHO CAME TO HAVE A CHILD CIRCUMCISED. THEY MIGHT ASSIST WOMEN WHO HAD GIVEN BIRTH AS THEY WENT THROUGH THE RITUAL BATH OF PURIFICATION. SIMEON WAS EXACTLY WHAT THE TEXT SAYS, A PIOUS MAN OF GREAT YEARS WHO MADE HIS WAY TO THE TEMPLE TO PRAY EVERY DAY, BECAUSE THERE WAS THE PRESENCE OF GOD, THE SAME GOD WHO LED THE PEOPLE ACROSS THE DESERT AND INTO THE PROMISED LAND, THE GOD WHO HAD PROMISED THAT HE WOULD SEE THE MESSIAH.
AND ALTHOUGH THE STORY DOESN'T SAY SO, WE CAN IMAGINE THAT THEY WERE BOTH ALONE. PERHAPS THERE WERE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, BUT BOTH SEEMED TO SPEND THE BULK OF THEIR DAYS IN THE TEMPLE.
AND IT IS TO THESE TWO ELDERLY PEOPLE THAT A POOR YOUNG FAMILY COMES TO GO THROUGH THE RITUALS THAT WERE REQUIRED OF THEM.
SO WHAT IS A FAMILY? IF YOU LOOK UP THE WORD, YOU FIND ALL KINDS OF DEFINITIONS. BUT THE CHURCH POINTS TO JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH AND SAYS, “THIS IS THE HOLY FAMILY”. SO THAT IS WHERE WE HAVE TO START. AND WE CAN ASK, WHEN DID THIS FAMILY BEGIN? NOT WHEN MARY OR JOSEPH WERE BORN; NOT EVEN WHEN THEY WERE ENGAGED TO EACH OTHER, OR WHEN THEY MARRIED. THE HOLY FAMILY BEGAN WHEN JESUS WAS BORN. A FAMILY, IT SEEMS, MUST BE WHERE HUMAN BEINGS ARE GENERATED AND NURTURED. THE GENERATION AND NURTURING IS NOT “ONE WAY” FROM THE PARENT TO THE CHILD. ONCE THE CHILD IS PRESENT, THE LIFELONG PROCESS OF MOLDING AND SHAPING EVERY MEMBER BEGINS; WIFE BECOMES MOTHER AND HUSBAND BECOMES FATHER; THE CHILD BECOMES SON OR DAUGHTER; AND THESE ARE NOT JUST CHANGES IN NAME, THEY ARE DEEP CHANGES THAT CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.
THE SECOND THING ABOUT A FAMILY, WHEN WE LOOK AT THE HOLY FAMILY, IS THAT EACH MEMBER LOVES THE OTHER MEMBERS. LOVE, OF COURSE, DOES NOT MEAN AN EMOTION; IT IS AN ACT OF WILL. AND REAL LOVE MEANS THAT I DESIRE THE BEST FOR YOU, AND THE BEST FOR YOU IS THAT YOU WILL ENJOY THE PRESENCE OF GOD FOR ALL ETERNITY. THIS WAS WHAT JESUS AND MARY AND JOSEPH WILLED FOR EACH OTHER. OUR CONTEMPORARY FAMILIES, UNFORTUNATELY, OFTEN CHOOSE THE GOOD AND NEGLECT THE BEST. WHEN WE MAKE DECISIONS THAT AFFECT OUR CHILDREN OR EACH OTHER, DO WE EVEN THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF THE DECISION ON THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE ONE WE SAY WE LOVE? IS IT A GOOD THING TO SEND MY CHILD TO A COLLEGE WHERE HE IS LIKELY TO LOSE, RATHER THAN STRENGTHEN, HIS OR HER FAITH? HOW AM I HELPING MY SPOUSE ACHIEVE HIS OR HER VOCATION? OR AM I PUTTING BARRIERS THERE? DOES OUR MARRIAGE BRING US CLOSER TO OUR GOAL OF HEAVEN, OR FURTHER AWAY?
THE THIRD THING ABOUT A FAMILY IS THAT IT IS INCLUSIVE. EACH OF US CAN SEE THAT OUR FAMILY HAS LAYERS UPON LAYERS; COUSINS, UNCLES AND AUNTS, GRANDPARENTS; AND THEN CLOSE FRIENDS, AND CO-WORKERS; AND THEN CASUAL ACQUAINTANCES. ALL THESE RELATIONSHIPS ARE MEANT TO BE SHAPED, AND ALL THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE MEANT TO BE LOVED. SOME HAVE LESS CLAIM THAN OTHERS, BUT ALL HAVE A CLAIM ON OUR CARE, OUR LOVE, ESPECIALLY THE ANNAS AND SIMEONS, THE LONELY, THE POOR, THE DISTRESSED.
BUT FAMILY ALL BEGINS WITH A CHILD. AND ANNA AND SIMEON, WHO SPEAK FOR THE FORGOTTEN, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DISCARDED, RECOGNIZE IN THIS CHILD THE SEED OF A NEW FAMILY, A FAMILY THAT WILL EMBRACE JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE, A FAMILY THAT WILL GO DOWN THROUGH THE GENERATIONS.
AND ON THIS FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY, WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE PART OF THAT FAMILY, THAT WE ARE CALLED TO NURTURE EACH OTHER, TO LOVE EACH OTHER ENOUGH TO SACRIFICE OURSELVES, NOT FOR MATERIAL GOODS, BUT INDEED FOR THAT GREATEST GOOD, SALVATION. AND WE ARE CALLED TO CONSTANTLY INVITE OTHERS INTO OUR FAMILY; THE FAMILY THAT IS DEFINED BY A CHILD, A CHILD CALLED GOD-WITH-US, THE CHILD WHO COMES TO US AS BREAD AND WINE, THE CHILD WHO IMPRISONS HIMSELF IN THE TABERNACLE AND AWAITS THE PRESENCE OF HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS.