What does the family of God look like?
When, in Luke’s
Gospel, Mary and Joseph take the baby Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord, they are reaffirming their participation
in the extraordinary covenant which God has repeatedly established with God’s
people. As we know from the story of Abram
(later Abraham) in Genesis, God, who created us out of love, showers blessings
on those who are open to his invitation.
Abraham trusts that the Lord will make his own issue, his future son Isaac, his heir, but God’s promise is
more extraordinary still: Abraham’s
descendants, the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on
the seashore. Faithful to God’s
covenant, Abraham is in right relationship with God; that righteousness (or right relationship) is born of God’s love for his
own, a covenant love, Psalm 105 tells us, that the Lord remembers forever, even though humankind may forget it.
Mary and Joseph likewise trust in God's plan. The Feast of the
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is a celebration of the covenant, of the
love relationship between humankind and God, of the ties that bind us to God as
well as to one another. The Incarnation –
Jesus, divine yet born in all his humanity to very human parents – is the
ultimate manifestation of God’s covenant, as the prophet Simeon recognizes upon
taking the child Jesus into his arms:
my eyes have seen your salvation, Simeon
says. The presence of Simeon and the
prophetess Anna in this scene reinforce the familial nature of the event, as
their voices reaffirm that the invitation of God to covenant creates a family,
a love relationship, that goes beyond the immediately biological. The Holy Family is our family; God’s love for
us is parental, loving, compassionate.
The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us of our place in God’s family,
and celebrates the love that is ours thanks to the extraordinary invitation of
the Lord to join him as witnesses to the redemption
available to all humankind.
