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“Ordinary, Mundane & Messy Daily Life Can Make
Extraordinary Saints!: A Holy Family Spirituality For All, But With
Preferential Option of the Church’s Care For Struggling Families” (Homily #171)
by Deacon Dennis Purificacion
Dec. 29, 2019 (5th Day of Christmas)
Feast of the Holy Family
In the popular family movie “The Incredibles.” a
family of superheroes finds a remote island called Nomanisan. This fictious No-man-isan island is [a play
on words and] based off the popular saying that “No man is an island’ –
Nomanisan. “No man is an island” means
that every human person was made to be in communion or relationship with other
human beings.
On this 5th Day of Christmas, our true
love, God, gave to us the Holy Family. Today’s
feast is relevant to every person here because all of us, without exception,
were born into a human family. Nobody is
an island separate from other islands.
The mystery of “Hidden Life” of the Holy
Family reveals that the ordinary, mundane and even messy events of daily life actually
are what may make us into extraordinary saints.
The ordinary can become extraordinary!
Just as the fall of Adam and Eve and the entire human
family fell from grace by way of the family, so too God reveals that salvation
comes through a family. The great Dr.
Scott Hahn, a Protestant minister who became Catholic by studying the Bible,
said that God redeems the world through the family.
For the 3 main parts of this homily, then, I’m going
to briefly reflect on lessons from each of the 3 members of the Holy Family for
all of us. For each of these three, I
will offer practical spiritual encouragement and support for Christian families,
especially struggling families. The
Church should be present in the margins of not just ideal family life but with
those in troubled marriages or broken relationships.
I.
In today’s Gospel, after a brief stay in Egypt, the
Holy Family returns to Nazareth to raise the Child Jesus. We don’t hear much about the Boy Jesus’s hidden
upbringing in the Scriptures other than that he was obedient to Mary and
Joseph. As a devout Jew, he was raised
in the commandment to honor his parents in Nazareth, according to the
prophets. This is the first main lesson,
not just for those of us who are children.
Even now, as adults, we can honor those that raised us when they are in
advanced age or we honor them if they are deceased through constant prayer for
the repose of their soul, if our parents are still in purgatory. We also honor those in legitimate authority,
so long as there is nothing sinful about them.
We honor our fathers and mothers who have failed us by forgiving
them. Forgive especially any father
wounds experienced. By forgiving others,
we in reality are freed of bondages that weigh us down and enslave us. In today’s First Reading from the Book of
Sirach, it is written: God sets a father in
honor over his children; a mother's authority he confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins and
whoever reveres his mother stores up riches.
And now, I turn to children and teenagers with a
special message. Dear young people, the
rules of your family are like rules of a good game, whether it is a football
game, a video game, or any fun club. The
rules exist so that you can enjoy the game and excel. The same is true of your family household
rules. The rules are there to help you
grow. So, like the Child Jesus, honor
your parents and guardians by honoring their rules. As long as those rules are not sinful,
obeying them is being like Jesus who was also your age. So when you’re told to reduce the television
or the video games or be careful around certain friends or the internet or
doing something with school or driving or work, the rules show how much your
parents love you and protect you. Like
the superhero kids in The Incredibles, learn from mistakes and get back
up. But be real superheroes for God and
your family! Be extraordinary saints! This ends the first main point: The Child
Jesus is our model for all of us through his obedience to his parents.
II.
For the second reflection on the second member of the
Holy Family, Mary, Pope St. Paul VI taught, “The home of Nazareth is the school
where we begin to understand the life of Jesus—the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and
indispensable condition of mind, revive in us…a lesson on family life” (St.
Paul VI; CCC 533). Silence leads to
prayer. Mary herself did not entirely
understand what was happening, but she accepted in faith. She silently “kept all these things in her
heart”. Oh what wonders did Mary’s
Immaculate Heart ponder in silence!
Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Contemplative, silent prayer is the
foundation of Christian family life!
Entrust ourselves to Mary’s Heart.
You know, St. Gemma Galgani’s mother died when St.
Gemma was 8 years old. St. Gemma often
said, “If God has taken away my mother, he left me His own.” And her prayer to the Mother of Jesus was,
“Holy Virgin, make me a saint!” Those closest
to Mary will eventually be closest to Jesus.
Like any child going to their mother to fix something, so too our
heavenly Mother Mary will be there to help us.
So while Jesus teaches us about obedience to God by honoring our
parents, Mary teaches us contemplation in prayer through her Immaculate Heart
III.
Finally, there’s St. Joseph. Joseph teaches all of us how to rely on God’s
love and providence in the messiness of family life. Joseph teaches us how to be truly devoted to Mary
and Jesus. Joseph teaches us about
authentic manhood means serving others and laying down our lives for them. Joseph shows us that parents are the first
teachers of the faith to their children, even when they are older. As St. Josemaria Escriva said, “The greatest
male saint that ever lived was not clergy but he was a family man and a
worker.” Like any good father, Joseph
too was worried about how things would turn out, but he trusted that God would
provide. In Matthew Chapter 2 right here,
Joseph was afraid to return to Israel because of Herod’s son. But like him, we too can trust God’s
providence during the ups and downs of life.
In closing, most of us are aware that the fragile family
today is under attack. But even in our
woundedness, fight for the family! The
world is in crisis because the family, which is the foundation of society, is
in crisis. The Catholic family living
the Gospel IS the New Evangelization! Let us not do this on our own, without
spiritual help. No one is an
island. And let us consider entrusting
or consecrating ourselves to the Holy Family.
It can be something as simple as, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give you
this matter to take care of.” May the
Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, reveal to us today that ordinary life
makes us into extraordinary saints.
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