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 Book of 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.
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.
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