“A Family Journeying in Faith” Bible READINGS Gen 15:1-6; 21:1-3 // Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19 // Lk 2:22-40
The feast of the Holy Family is part of the Christmas festivity, when family members and loved ones come together to celebrate the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. On this day we not only celebrate the creation of the Holy Family at the birth of Jesus, but also recall its inspiring journey of faith. Indeed, the shadow of the cross fell across the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as they traveled on the road of faith. The Holy Family’s faith journey has a remarkable antecedent in Israel’s first family of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. In the first reading (Gn 15:1-6; 21:1-3), the Genesis story narrates the fascinating dialogue between the Lord God and Abram. God promised a very great reward to Abram whom he had called from his own country into a new land that was to be his inheritance. The divine promise was to make him the father of a great nation. Abram, however, manifested his concern that for lack of offspring, a servant in his household would become his heir. The Lord God assured him that he would have a son and that the steward of his house, Eliezer would not be his heir. God reinforced his promise to him. Taking him outside, he said: “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be.” The author of the Genesis story then made a powerful declaration: “Abram put his faith in the Lord.” The text of the Old Testament reading proclaimed in the Sunday liturgy skips across six chapters towards the fulfillment of the promise in the birth of Isaac (Gn 21-1-3). It would be good, however, to recall an intervening event in which the Lord God gave Abram a new name: “You shall no longer be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you father of a multitude of nations. I will make you most fruitful. I will make you into nations, and your issue shall be kings” (Gn 17:5-6). Abraham thus became the father of the son of promise, Isaac, whose name could be translated “God laughed” to show the wonder and joy brought about by the divine favor. At the birth of Isaac, Sarah exclaimed: “God has given me cause to laugh; all those who hear of it will laugh with me. Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a child in his old age” (Gn 21:7). The second reading (Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19) is an excerpt from a litany praising the faith of Israel’s ancestors. It delineates in a climactic way the ongoing faith response of the patriarch Abraham: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance... By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age and Sarah herself was sterile... By faith Abraham offered up Isaac his only son.” Abraham’s supreme and most radical faith response was his obedience to the paradoxical command to offer his only son Isaac in sacrifice. He trusted the Lord God completely. According to the letter to the Hebrews, Abraham believed that God would be able to raise even from the dead and that “he received Isaac back as a symbol”. Scripture scholars explain that Isaac’s deliverance from death is seen as a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection. Indeed, Abraham’s total faith and reliance upon Yahweh became a source of salvation for the family of nations through the generation of a messianic descendant, Jesus Christ, the Savior of all. In the Gospel narrative (Lk 2:22-40), the evangelist Luke portrayed the Holy Family as observant Jews fulfilling the prescriptions of the religious laws regarding the presentation of the first-born to the Lord. The Book of Exodus required the presentation and the redemption of first-born sons who belong to the Lord. Indeed, they were his own, for it was he who saved the first-born of the household of Israel from the angel of destruction who “passed over” them on the night of the last plague in Egypt (Ex 13:15). Moreover, Luke entwined the ceremony of the purification with that of the presentation of the first-born. The book of Leviticus described the ceremony for the ritual purification of the mother forty days after giving birth (Lev 12:1-8). On this occasion she was to offer a lamb and a pigeon or a turtledove, but the poor were permitted to bring only two pigeons or doves which were officially called “the offering of the poor”. According to the new edition of the Jerome Biblical Commentary, “that this is what Joseph and Mary offered indicates that the Savior was born into a home where there were no luxuries, a home where members knew it was to lack the essential, basic things of life, a home where every cent counts.” The journey of faith of the Holy Family includes trust in the providence of God who “feeds the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty” (Lk 1:53). At the presentation in the temple, the infant Jesus would receive a more official recognition as the promised Savior of Israel. Open the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Simeon whose name means “God has heard” and the prophetess Anna whose name means “grace, favor” embodied the humble waiting of Israel for the revelation of God’s salvation. At the presentation in the temple, Jesus was recognized by Simeon as the Anointed of the Lord. Simeon proclaimed, moreover, in his “Nunc Dimittes” canticle that Jesus would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” After blessing God who had given him the grace to see with his own eyes the salvation prepared for all the nations, Simeon blessed the child’s parents. He then foretold to Mary that the prepared for all the nations, Simeon blessed the child’s parents. He then foretold to Mary that the child would be “a sign of contradiction” so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. He also warned Mary that her own soul would be pierced by a sword. The Collegeville Biblical Commentary remarks: “With these two utterances of Simeon, we are given a foreshadowing of the universal salvation that will be proclaimed in Jesus and of the necessity of suffering in the mission of this Messiah… The later followers of Jesus are not to be surprised that suffering is encountered in their pursuit of a Gospel life. Even families and friendships will be broken up as ‘the thoughts of many hearts’ are laid bare, because the peace Jesus brings will not be a counterfeit covering secret divisions.” As part of the Christmas mystery, the feast of the Holy Family helps us to contemplate the faith experience of persons who are influential models for all families today. The journey of faith of the Holy Family would reach its climax in the paschal mystery. According to Carlo Carretto, “God didn’t soften the path of those whom he put beside his Son. He asked of them a faith so pure and uncompromising.” Indeed, the life of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph – and prefigured by Israel’s first family: Abraham, Sarah and Isaac – is a paradigm of what it means to journey in faith today.
The following sacred text is a living word to nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it. “My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all the people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Lk 2:30-32)
|
|||||||||||||||
Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE
DIVINE MASTER |