Article Title: HOMILY OF THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY.
Author: Fr Ben AGBO
Date Added: 2009-01-01
Theme: THE LAW OF FAMILY PROSPERITY
On this feast of an ideal successful family; the family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, we need to reflect on the dynamics of peace and prosperity in the family. The responsorial psalm of today says: “O blessed are those who fear the lord and walk in his ways”. There are three dimensions of this blessing for the faithful believers:
1. Prosperity in business: By the labour of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper.
2. Fruit of the womb: Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house.
3. Peace among your children: Your children like shoots of olive around your table. An example of one who enjoyed these three- fold blessings in the Bible is Joseph cf Gen. 49:22
The law of family prosperity flows from obedience to parents as we find in today’s first reading, Sir. 3:2-14:’ The Lord honours his father in his children and upholds the right of a mother over her sons. Whoever respect his father is atoning for his sins. He who honours his mother is like someone amassing a fortune … whoever respects his father will be happy with the children of his own… he shall be heard in the day when he prays.’
Our parents confer on us the basic ‘spiritual immunity’ we need for success in life and for resistance of the enemy’s viles.
The second reading, from Col. 3:17-21, speaks of the importance of peace in the family. The basic virtues needed to maintain this are; humility, gentleness and patience. Here we have a Tripartite law of Family prosperity, stated as follows;
a). Wives give way (defer) to your husbands.
b). Husband love your wives and treat them with gentleness. Cf Eph. 5:22 – here we see the “one flesh theory” of St Paul. What is implied here is not that men are superior to women but that in the administrative structure called family, the husband is the super-ordinate. This means that in the event of disagreement in views, the husband should have the final say for peace to prevail.
c). Children, be obedient to your parents This passage ends with a caveat: Parents, never drive your children to resentment. There can never be peace in the home of wicked parents because as “charity begins at home” so also “wickedness begins at home”. Wicked and stingy parents will always manifest their wickedness and stinginess on their family. The Geek word ‘sorge’ is a type of parental love found in all animal species. Any human being who does not love and care for his own children (for instance, aborting one’s own innocent child), spiritually degenerates to a position even lower than animals. A Mexican proverb says “None but a mule denys his own family”. Beating one’s wife is like beating oneself and it results in what I call “emotional suicide”. The children of such parents develop internal confusion and disequilibrium … “when things fall apart the centre cannot hold”.
In conclusion, we must learn on this feast of the holy family to let the man be in charge. This does not mean authoritarianism but the scripture wants women to influence their husbands through the power of love than through the power of the gut. We should not mind a lot of anti-family feminist theories of our present day. God has always designed that the husband should be the leader of the family especially in sensitive matters. Today’s gospel, Mtt. 2:13-23, shows God’s guidance of the holy family, revealed through dreams three times shown to Joseph
No family can have peace without the virtue of forgiveness and tolerance. A theologian Thomas Pazhayampallil, SDB, defines marriage as “a union of two good forgivers”. The family as the oldest institution of God must be protected by all means. According to Pope JohnPaul II, it is “the domestic church”, the miniature church. He says “we must treasure our families for the future of humanity passes by way of the family”. Finally we must take note of the fact that our blood family should not be our only object of concern but the world family. We find our example from this holy family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus who from the beginning of the presentation and finding of the child Jesus in the temple to the hanging of Jesus on the cross learnt the hard lesson from Christ, that the universal family of believers was more important than the biological family. Cf Lk. 2:34, Mtt. 12:50 & Jn. 19:26.
