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27 dic 2020

27/12/2020  The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph - B

27/12/2020  The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph - B 

Reading 1 GEN 15,1-6; 21,1-3 * Psalm 104 * Reading 2 HEB 11,8.11-12.17-19 * Gospel LK 2,22-40

It is now tradition that the Sunday inside the octave of Christmas is dedicated to thinking of the Family in which Jesus has been welcomed and by which He has been lovingly served! In it He has been growing up as a son, in it He has learnt how to live, love, serve, obey, pray, work and suffer! This thinking exercise becomes help to reconsider our living together in our families and to thank God for the communion that in it it is allowed us to enjoy!

Here it is, the family of which Jesus has become the center! Mary and Joseph, faithful to the traditions of the people, know that their son, the first-born, needs to be offered to God. This need is destined to be there in their lives to remind them that they are not their own masters, and therefore neither of that other life that is now with them! The act with which they consecrated the son is reminding them also that they are parts of a people, a people focussed on God, responsible in front of Him for a great mission among all other peoples! They do not give in to the temptation to say: “We behave for ourselves!”, or: “We let everyone do what they want”, like they were feeling estranged and so they were not taking part in the joys and sufferings of others.

It is not by chance that the first and the second readings are showing the characters of Abraham and Sarah with their desire to have a son, even if they are old! And they eventually have a son, nay, they are gifted with one! The father of the people will pass onto all his descendants that humble behaviour: he will never be able to boast about having had a son, but he will always have to say he has received him! This is the humble wisdom that accompanies the parents, faithful to God, in their relationship with their children, before and after their birth, during their growing up, when they have to make a choice.

The son who Abraham and Sarah receive, is fruit not of clever and prudent calculations, but only of their faith. They thought God able to give them a son and to give this son a heart which would have continued to feel the same faith in Him, would have spread in the world His knowledge and His glory! They wanted a son because of God and to meet His expectations! When they had him in their late days, they thanked Him.

Mary and Joseph give thanks to God for their baby, recognising that he belongs first of all to Him. That is why they bring him to the temple, in Jerusalem.

Here two unexpected things happen: a man and a woman, elderly, enlightened by who knows what light, know that baby is predestined, they know that His presence is joy for everyone, that His coming is the good news awaited for centuries. Simeon knows also that His life will not be easy, nay, it will be opposed by His own people and will be the cause of suffering also for His mother. The strange words of these two old people are echoing those of the angels to Mary, Joseph, the shepherds. The two parents are not afraid nor they grow in pride. They are fulfilling their “duty” and then they continue their simple hidden life in Nazareth. They give full attention to the child given them by God. What matters is what God does in Him and not what men say about Him: men say many things!

Our family and Christian families today above all can rejoice: they are blessed by God, they are a place for the same Jesus who was placed between Mary and Joseph! Then they will take time to pray, to receive from the Father, during prayer, the same Spirit of love, peace, harmony that was present in Nazareth. Afterwards they will try to introduce in their habits the carefulness to look at each tool as God looks at them: and to thank Him one for the other. The parents will see themselves as the two which the Father makes use of to make Himself known to their children, and therefore they will try to imitate Him! The children will see in Jesus the image of the true son who grows in wisdom, age and grace, and they will programme their own whole life in the light of Him.

In every family will have their nest the Father’s love, the Son’s obedience, the Spirit’s peace! Every family has the grace in this way to become a small embodiment of the only God!