From the Pastor's Desk | December 31, 2023

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Christmas is not over yet!  In fact, we’ve just begun!  The season of Christmas officially ends on January 8 with the Baptism of the Lord.  So, let us press into the Christmas season.  Rather than take down the decorations, let us stay and sit with Christmas for a while.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  I clearly remember my grandmother praying for my brother and I as she would mumble under her breath, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” (typically whenever we misbehaved).  I guess she knew the powerful intercession of the Holy Family…
 
In the Gospel today, we hear the retelling of the presentation of the Lord.  The Law of Moses required three things: circumcision after eight days, ritual purification of the mother after child birth after forty days, and the presentation of the first born male.  Luke explicitly quotes Exodus 13:2, which deals with the redemption of firstborn males.  The idea behind this ritual was that every male firstborn — whether human or animal — is holy to God in the same way that the firstfruits of a crop are holy to God.  So, they had to either be given to God in sacrifice or purchased back from God by paying the priest five shekels.  Human sacrifice was/is rightly forbidden and deemed immoral, so all the firstborn males had to be purchased back from God.

Herein lies the point - Jesus belonged to God.  The firstborn son of Mary, with Joseph as the “stepfather” so to speak, did not belong to either of them.  Rather, He belonged to God the Father.  In a very real sense, parents today are also called to spiritually present their children to God the Father because their children belong to Him.  We do this in baptism when the parents present their infant children to the Church.  Through the Church, through the action of baptism, they are claimed as Christ’s and marked with an indelible seal.  The baptized are certainly washed clean from original sin but also anointed as Priest, Prophet, and King, taking on the identity of Christ Himself.  

I think this is an important point.  Bishop Robert Barron explains that Biblical family values are actually a realization that sons and daughters really belong to the Lord and that we have to learn to let them go.  By raising them in the faith, we pray that they will continue to do the Lord’s will in their own lives.  We pray that they grow into their identities of Priest, as they live sacrificially; Prophet, as they proclaim Christ in their words and actions; and King, as they govern their lives, their families’ lives, and perhaps even the Church in right order and in accord with the Law of the Lord.

I have spoken to a lot of parents, especially having been a high school chaplain, who sometimes struggle with letting their kids go.  I have also spoken to parents who are heartbroken because their kids have strayed from the faith.  Perhaps today, on the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we can pray for two graces - to let our kids go and, in so doing, that they continue to grow into priests, prophets, and kings - other Christs for the world.     

Please know of my continued prayers for a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year ahead! 
Fr. Ryan