ILIZWI REFLECTIONS
Sunday 31 December 2023***
THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH
1 Samuel 1:20-22.24-28
Psalm 84:2-3.5-6.9-11
1 John 3:1-2.21-24
Luke 2:41-52
WE ARE A BIG FAMILY
“The shepherds went in haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in a manger” – Lk 2:16
Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family just after Christmas puts the birth of Christ in context. When God sent His Son, He did not mysteriously appear from nowhere, nor did he descend down through the clouds from Heaven. But he was born in a family, in a human family.
The title of today’s feast is revealing. It is called the feast of the Holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Patriarchal families are named after the father. But this family is named after Jesus!
The gospel follows the same line. Joseph and Mary are today not identified by their names in the gospel. Three times are called “his parents” and are referred to separately as his “mother” and “father.” The only time the name Mary is mentioned, Luke adds “his mother” (Lk 2:34). In other words, the identity of Joseph and Mary is determined by their relatedness to Jesus.
Today’s feast gives us a new definition of family. A Family is, therefore, defined in relatedness to Jesus. What makes a family is not the mere presence of a father, mother, and children. But the relation of each member of the family to Jesus.
Traditionally a family is what the shepherds found – father, mother, and child/ren. But today this model is rare in our pews. We have child-headed families, single-parent families, couples with no children.
These are not special cases as others would want to say, the absence of a mother, a father, or a child does not demean a family. What makes these a family is their relatedness to the new-born child, Jesus.
Today’s feast broadens our understanding of each other. Since we are all related to Jesus, since he is our brother, this means that we are all a family, one big family, gathered together in what Jesus calls “My father’s house”. We are all children of the same God (2nd reading).
That is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father”, not “My Father” and the Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton, taught us, “The family that prays together, stays together.”
In love with the Divine Word
Fr. Ncube, SVD
Ilizwi Biblical Centre
Divine Word Missionaries
Zimbabwe 🇿🇼
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 