Longing for the Lord

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family

By Deacon Thomas Stephenson

December 28, 2014

As Father Paul mentioned at the beginning of Mass, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, which is almost always celebrated on the Sunday between Christmas and the feast of Mary, Mother of God, on the first of January. These three feasts help us to keep in mind something that we may take for granted – that Jesus was born into a family, He chose to be born as a helpless child who relied on His mother and father, who needed to grow and mature under their care. As Father Paul said last week, being God, this was not really a necessary step. He could have come down as an adult and begun His mission. But becoming part of a family was His choice, including experiencing all the joys and sorrows of family life. And, although the situation of the Holy Family was unique, there are many things we can learn from their example.

Joseph and Mary were devout, practising Jews. They knew their faith, they knew what that faith taught them about what God required. Not only the specific precepts, but how it affected their lives, what they did in obedience to God’s will, the acceptance of His plan for them. There was nothing written in the Law that could have possibly prepared them for what was happening, but as faithful Jews, knowing the miracles the Lord had worked for His people, they placed their trust in Him. They desired to do what He asked of them.

We can be pretty confident that the parents of Mary and the parents of Joseph had taught their children their faith, beginning from when they were very young. And Mary and Joseph would have done the same, passing along the Jewish faith to Jesus, and probably continuing to deepen their own faith as well. We see one indication of how serious they were about this in today’s Gospel, when they take Jesus to the temple as it is written in the law of the Lord. Living their faith, and raising Jesus in that faith, was not just important, it was essential to Joseph and Mary.

Teaching our children about our Catholic faith should be just as essential to us. Not just teaching the rules, but also instilling in them a desire for God, an intense longing to be with Him and to do His will. In Simeon and Anna, who the Holy Family encounter in the temple, we have excellent examples of people who are longing for the Lord, and trust in His promise. It had been revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Christ. This was Simeon’s great desire, which was granted to him by the Lord. Simeon sees Jesus not just as a child, but as salvation – Jesus is salvation. Now, Simeon can go in peace; God has granted him what he desired. And Anna, too, who was devoted to the Lord, and was filled with praise when she saw the child, has had her faithful service rewarded, and her longing for the Lord satisfied, in seeing the child Jesus.

Do we have a desire, a longing, for the Lord? Are we passing that along to our children? Are we nurturing that desire, in ourselves and in our children, feeding it with sound teaching and prayer? The Catechism reminds us that the family is the “domestic church”; it quotes the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium, which says that parents are “by word and example…the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children”. “Thus, the home is the first school of Christian life.” Parents have a responsibility, a duty to the Lord, to raise their children well, especially when it comes to their relationship with God. Our children first learn about God through our example.

And if we feel as though we don’t have enough knowledge of our faith to do that, we have plenty of resources, including our Rediscover Catholicism series, books and videos in the library downstairs, our fellow parishioners – all of these can help make us better equipped to teach our children, and to learn more about our faith for our own benefit. But this is not just about what we get from books or other sources. We do need that teaching, we need to know what God has revealed to us about Himself, and about how He wants us to relate to Him and to one another. The most fundamental thing, though, is developing and inspiring that desire, that longing, that yearning for the Lord. Not just at some time in the distant future – we don’t have to wait like Simeon and Anna did. We see Christ, we can receive Him, we are in His presence, every time we come to Mass. And we can work to make Christ present and welcome in our families and in our homes just as much as He is here at church.

Joseph and Mary trusted in the Lord. Simeon and Anna trusted in the Lord. Abraham and Sarah were faithful to God’s commands and trusted in His promise. The passage from the letter to the Hebrews reminds us of their obedience. Even the Psalm we heard earlier speaks of the joy of those who seek the Lord, who seek His presence continually. We can easily get caught up in the hectic demands of day-to-day life, and forget Who we need to keep our focus on. When we find ourselves drifting, we should, at the very least, say a quick prayer, place our trust in the Lord, and try to remember that He is our ultimate desire. This is not only for ourselves; what we do, how we live our lives, is a lesson for our children, and even our grandchildren – let’s make sure they are learning the right things from us.

The Holy Family differs from ours, as each family differs from others, with their own set of trials and joys, their own mix of personalities and characteristics. Nevertheless, God gave us the Holy Family as an example for us imitate as much as we possibly can. So let us pray that we can discover how to apply their example in our families, each in our own way, and in doing so inspire in our children, and ourselves, a longing for the Lord.