Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 31, 2017: Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky...

 Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky…  

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.

Image source:  Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/)

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 28, 2014: By faith...

By faith...

How do you define family?

Long before the word family came to signify parents and their children, its meaning was much broader, referring to a collective body of persons forming one household, including relatives and servants alike.  This context may help to explain the readings we hear for this Sunday's Feast of the Holy Family, where, while Jesus, Mary and Joseph certainly do play a central role, a broader sense of the word, one focused especially on relationship through faith, is called for.

We begin with God’s promise, in the Book of Genesis, to the childless and elderly Abram that Abram’s descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in the sky... because Abram has faith, a faith that will become a model of righteousness for generations to follow.  To be sure, Abram’s new nuclear family is cause for celebration, but the true focus here seems to be Abram’s right relationship with God, an intimate relationship in which God proclaims himself to be Abram’s shield.  It is relationship that Abram’s descendants should pursue as well, as evidenced by Psalm 105:  the psalmist calls upon the people of Israel to give thanks to the Lord, look to the Lord, constantly seek his face. God seeks a relationship with us; we, in turn, are to be hearts that seek the Lord, in faith.  And it is ultimately Abram’s faith, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, that allows him to obey God’s call, offering up his son Isaac when put to the test.  Abram is the model of intimate relationship with God through faith.

We have similar exemplars of faith in our reading from Luke’s Gospel.  Both Simeon and Anna have long awaited the consolation of Israel, looking for evidence of God’s presence, and promise, to the Jewish community.  When Mary and Joseph, faithful Jews, present their son Jesus at the temple, the Spirit moves both Simeon and Anna to recognize that their waiting—a patient waiting that has ever deepened their relationship with God—has been rewarded.  Open to God’s presence, faithful until their final years, Anna and Simeon see God’s salvation for all the peoples embodied by the child whom Simeon takes into his arms. 

What is the lesson here?  Perhaps, at least in part, we are to understand that, before all else, it is our relationship with God, God our father (Isaiah 63), that allows all other relationships to flourish, including those we file under the modern rubric of family. It is our intimacy with God through our faith in God’s promises, in other words, that allows us to embrace, not only our own nuclear families, but a universal relationship with all peoples, with that greater family that consists of humankind at large, truly a holy family to be celebrated, both  in the microcosm that is Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and in the macrocosm that is our world.

Image source:  Wordle