December 28, 2020
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Feast of the Holy Family (Year B) on December 27, 2020, at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. There are several options for the readings on this feast day. This homily is based on Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-13; Colossians 3:12-17; and Luke 2:22-40.
In most years, we expect lots of people to be coming to Mass with extended family members on the Sunday after Christmas. But we’re spending the last weekend of this truly bizarre year asking ourselves if we should be at Mass at all,1 and most of us have had little physical contact with our extended families this year. So, rather than choosing readings instructing husbands, wives, and children how to treat one another, we have selected readings about trusting in God’s promises to families.
But as we reflect on these readings, they might stir up questions to consider in new ways in light of the pandemic. What does it mean to be a member of a family? What does it mean to build a support network, whether or not the members of that network are blood relatives?
We are all one in the family of God. Let’s take a moment to celebrate God’s merciful love for each and every one of us, despite our oddities, imperfections, and uncertainties.
One of the oldest stories in the Bible is about God bringing all the animals before the man in search of a suitable companion. Even three thousand years ago, our Jewish ancestors recognized that human beings are, by their very nature, interdependent on one another.
But in 2020, the whole idea of our interdependence has changed in drastic ways. On one hand, the vaccination effort is due to the scientific community working across international borders in an unprecedented way. On the other hand, we know that people who choose not to follow safety protocols are endangering the rest of us. For good and for ill, we are dependent on one another.
2020 has also challenged our idea of what it means to be “connected” to someone. Now that we can’t connect through touching a hand or shoulder, through being in the same room, or through sharing an in-person experience, we’re trying to use phone calls, videochats, and watch parties to imperfectly bridge the gap.
2020 has continued and deepened the question of what the very word “family” means. For many families, the pandemic has caused them to spend more time together than ever before. In other cases, family members have been forced to keep apart because of the risk of infecting one another. The pandemic has highlighted the toxicity of some family dynamics that require people to cut off all contact with their relatives. But no matter which category we fall in to, the pandemic has made us recognize that we need to connect, more than ever, with people who love and care for us – be they family members, a small circle of friends, or some other kind of intentional community.
Aware of this dynamic, Bishop Vásquez wrote a letter earlier this month that he requested to be read at all Masses this weekend. He wrote:
The experience of current events, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic, have brought into deep focus our time spent at home. For many, it has meant a much different experience of work, school and social activities. This time at home has given us moments to encounter God; our Catholic tradition calls these encounters with God the “Domestic Church.”
[Today,] the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I will inaugurate a “Year of the Domestic Church” in the Diocese of Austin. This day will begin the year-long observance of the home as the first school of Christian life. Through prayer and action, Christian households lead to a flourishing of the parish family.
In our diocese, a poverty of material or spiritual resources is the reality for many. For some, home life can present challenges and difficulties. I pray especially that those without a human family know that the Church is a home and family to all. My hope is that your household, whether it is a home of one person or a family of many, will grow in wisdom and holiness.
May the Year of the Domestic Church be a time for us to experience and impart to others the merciful love of the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis is also aware of this same dynamic. The day after Bishop Vásquez published the above letter, the pope declared that 2021 would be the “Year of Saint Joseph” for the Universal Church.
For some of us, when we hear mentions of the Holy Family or discussions about the Domestic Church – like in some of the lyrics of our opening hymn today and in some of our prayers, we may feel as if the Church is proposing an unattainable model of what a family should be. After all, Jesus was God, Mary was sinless, and Joseph was a saint. How we can we compare to them, especially in a time when everything’s been thrown up in the air by the pandemic?
But even the Holy Family, the model of the Domestic Church, had a lot of the oddities, imperfections, and uncertainties similar to our families and family-like units. For example, the Gospel of Matthew begins with a grand genealogy, declaring that Jesus is a direct descendant of both Abraham and David… but he is related through his stepfather, not his mother.
It sure sounds as if when Mary and Joseph came to present Jesus at the Temple, their extended family and friends did not accompany them. I can’t help but think of a couple who came to St. Austin on Thanksgiving weekend to have their first-born son baptized. Due to the pandemic, no one was supposed to join them for the baptism, except two local friends who would serve as proxy godparents. But then, the night before the baptism, these friends were exposed to Covid-19.
So, when the couple and their son arrived for the baptism four weeks ago, the three of them were greeted by two people on the St. Austin staff. Filling in for Anna the Prophetess was Marie Martinez, our part-time receptionist who treats everyone who comes to our door with love and compassion. That left me to play the part of Simeon. At the baptism – which the parents and godparents were able to watch on livestream – I, like Simeon, spoke about how God has great things planned for Jacob, and that his parents would have to make many sacrifices along the way.
Anna’s and Simeon’s prophecies weren’t much more reassuring than my words – they were packed with oddities, imperfections, and uncertainties. For example, what did Simeon mean when he told Mary, “you yourself a sword shall pierce”?
God’s promises to Abram were odd and uncertain too. God first promised that Abram would be a father of nations, with a dizzying number of descendants, when Abram was 75 years old. And yet, Abram chose to believe in God’s promises until his dying day.
The popular scripture scholar Jeff Cavins insists that when God commanded Abram to count the stars, it was not the middle of the night, but the middle of the day. There were no stars visible, except the sun. Yet, Genesis assures us: Abram put his faith in God.
Mary and Joseph had to do likewise – just as they had to trust that the circumstances surrounding Mary’s pregnancy were part of God’s plan, they had to place their trust in God every day in raising Jesus.
Families and family-like units are constantly challenged by the unexpected, even families as holy as the Holy Family. No matter the oddities, the imperfections, or the uncertainties surrounding our own domestic situations – we have each been baptized into the Body of Christ to be light for the world, to proclaim God’s promises.
Note:
- On the morning of December 23, Interim Medical Director and Health Authority of Travis County Dr. Mark Escott declared that the City of Austin and the County of Travis were shifting to “Stage 5” COVID-19 transmission prevention precautions. This is the highest level of precautions the county can issue, advising people to avoid all gatherings outside their household and to avoid in-person dining and shopping. However, the state government of Texas has forbidden local governments from enforcing shutdowns. ↩