Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta
Homily for Feast of the Holy Family, 2024
Readings: 1Samuel 1:20-28; 1John 3:1-2;21-24; Luke 2:41-52
Pilgrims of hope with our travelling companions
Dear friends,
I don’t know about you but after days of celebrating Christmas together, some of us might have begun to think that perhaps there is such a thing as a family “overdose”. In fact, after the parties and cooking and visiting and obligations and expectations and disappointments, some of us have had about as much “family” as we can take. Parents are wondering when the kids go back to school. Grandparents want to have their peace and quiet back. Yes, family gatherings are great but they can also reveal how imperfect, wounded, broken and even dysfunctional we are.
Today, we are celebrating the feast of the Holy Family which is a model for all Christian families. We reflect on the way they lived their lives and learn from their example of discerning and putting into practice what God wanted of them in the multitude of challenges that they encountered.
At times, we tend to sentimentalize the Holy Family. But we forget: they weren’t that different from us. They were holy, yes. But they were also human. They did not have every minute detail of their lives figured out. They were subject to all the uncertainties, ambiguities and complexities of life just like the rest of us. More importantly, they were not above the messiness, brokenness and vulnerability that is so much a part of every family experience. Christmas reminds us that God that he enters fully into those raw, unadorned and messy spaces. Emmanuel is about the God who disregards his exalted status in order to become the most vulnerable, the most fragile and the most rejected among us.
In fact, the story of the Holy Family is the story of the unexpected. It’s the story of a teenage mother, conceiving a child before she was married. It’s the story of an anxious father, confronting scandal, planning on divorce. It’s the story of a family forced to become refugees, living in a foreign country in order to escape from persecution and to have a better future not unlike many of us who came to Australia.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is presented to the Temple and here it is not all sunshine and roses. The child and his parents, we are told, are amazed at what were said about him. “This child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and a sword will pierce your heart so that the thoughts of many may be revealed.” In other words, the Holy Family is to live the mystery of the cross and they are to suffer, to die and to rise again according to God’s plan and purpose for the world.
We realize then that when we speak of the Holy Family, we speak of a family that struggled and suffered, like so many of us. But struggles and sufferings alone do not distinguish them and make them holy. What truly makes them a Holy Family is that they lived in constant faith, unwavering hope and undiminished love in all their trials and tribulations. Like Abraham before them, they trusted in God, at every twist and turn of their journey. Like him, they put their faith in him and were justified; they obeyed not knowing the place to which they were called. The Holy Family showed us how to live with courage and hope even in the worst circumstances.
Dear friends,
We are on the eve of the new year and Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be the Jubilee Year. Encouraging us to use this milestone occasion to work towards a new world where peace and justice reign, he spoke of “a jubilee for our Mother Earth, disfigured by profiteering; a time of jubilee for the poorer countries burdened beneath unfair debts; a time of jubilee for all those who are in bondage to forms of slavery old and new.”
The Jubilee Year, according to biblical tradition, is a special year in which prisoners are set free, debts are forgiven, property is returned and even the animals and the earth are given rest from labour. The practice of jubilee or Sabbatical rest was a distinctive feature of the covenant community, especially during the time of the exile. It stood in sharp contrast with the exploitation and grab-what-you-can modus operandi of the empire, be it Egypt, Babylonia, Persia or Rome. Yet, it was this practice, rooted in the duty of care towards all, that maintained human dignity, long term sustainability and fruitfulness. Jubilee opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. It motivates us to greater concern for the poor, the afflicted and in these days of hyper-exploitation of the environment, the suffering creation all around us.
We need a new beginning, a new vision of global equity, peace and unity for all of God’s children and nature. Let us take courage to journey towards this horizon of hope. Let us model ourselves on the Holy Family, who were pilgrims on the same journey and are now our travelling companions. Indeed, we are not alone. We thank God for their being with us in our imperfections, our brokenness and our vulnerability. More importantly, we thank God for their example of following God’s way in all things, of putting His plan above theirs, of hoping against hope, of trusting against all evidence to the contrary, daring to journey with God all the way. May they intercede for us as we endeavour to be the living sign of the Kingdom for all.
