The Feast of the Holy Family, Sunday, December 30, 2020

Luke 2, 22–40

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted —and you yourself a sword will pierce— so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.  When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. 

We sometimes discover a great talent in a friend or family member that we had no inkling of in our previous experience of that person.  The talent may be musical, artistic, scientific, or athletic in nature.  We wonder that we had known this person for so long a time and only now are we finding out about it.  This person may be a child or an adult.  Where did it come from?  And the child or adult seems so ordinary, just like ourselves.

The mystery of the Holy Family is in the ordinary way its members lived together.  They seemed to their neighbors quite unexceptional.  We remember how when Jesus visited Nazareth at a time of his growing fame as a performer of miracles, and his neighbors gawked at him and asked, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary?” (Matthew 13, 54-55).  For thirty years, the Holy Family dwelt side by side with their neighbors, and their neighbors did not know them.  Holy persons do not draw attention to themselves.  When they perform charitable acts, it really is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.  In a world full of people screaming for attention, the holy person goes unnoticed, and prefers it that way.  (The working of public miracles by a holy person calls attention only to God.)

It is the urging of the Holy Spirit that enables a person to recognize holiness.  In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, we see that Joseph and Mary have brought their newborn Son to the Temple in order to present him to God, in accordance with the ancient Law.  They join a large crowd of other parents with their newborn sons.  Nothing exterior distinguishes them from anyone around them.  The crowd moves along at a regular pace as each family is received into the Temple and each sacrifice made.  And then comes the turn of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.  There is commotion, and the holy man Simeon bursts in among the family, priests, and attendants.  He takes the Child in his arms and speaks prophetic words in an ecstasy.  He addresses God, the Virgin Mary, and all within range of his voice.  Then he returns the Child to its Mother.  The holy woman Anna, who has made the Temple her home for many years, also appears to praise God and to speak of the Child and what he will do one day.  And then, when she has finished speaking, Joseph and Mary “fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord” and “they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.”  They slipped away into the crowd of those departing.  It was as if the ocean had swallowed up a large ship and the water covered it so that you would never have known it had been there.  St. Luke does not include the story of the Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt which occurred between the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple and the return to Nazareth.  He may not have heard of it.  The Holy Family apparently lived in Egypt for three years before the angel again spoke to Joseph in a dream.

The Holy Family returned to their own town of Nazareth, back to their home, back to the carpentry shop.  They introduced their Son to their neighbors and learned how to feed and care for him.  They adapted to his schedule of sleeping and eating.  It seemed quite ordinary to the people of their hamlet.  But how Joseph and Mary must have looked at their Son, into his eyes, knowing that he was their God!  And how they must have looked at each other in wonder, that they had been chosen by the Father to care for him!

We can wonder at this, too.  And at Mass we can look upon the ordinariness of the Host in the priest’s hands.  Do we suspect the richness, the glory, that lies beneath its outward appearance?