December 29, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Feast of the Holy Family (Year A) on December 28, 2025, at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 128; Colossians 3:12-17; and Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23.
The Church designates the Sunday after Christmas Day as the Feast of the Holy Family. This may be one of the few Sundays of the year when everyone in an extended family – or everyone within a group of people who are like a family – can come to Mass together. Granted, others of us are here alone today. (We buried my dear godmother 8 years ago today, on what would have been my parents’ 50th anniversary, burying her just a few rows over from my parents’ grave.)
Our reading from Sirach was clearly written in the homogenous, tribal, patriarchal culture of early 3rd century BC Jerusalem. Nevertheless, we can hopefully still hear the importance of loving and respecting our loved ones, even if we think the specifics of Sirach’s ideas about love and respect may be a bit antiquated.
Our gospel passage today speaks of the life-and-death challenges that the Holy Family experienced in their earliest years as a family. As we hear our second reading from Colossians, may it help us realize that repeated small acts of love and care can prepare us to give each other mercy during the challenging times that lie ahead. Jesus Christ came to teach us to relate to God as children relating to a caring parent. Let us take a moment to celebrate the mercy that God has shown us at every moment of our lives.
Let’s zoom out to the big picture for a moment before we talk about the Holy Family. Two major themes in the Gospel of Matthew come crashing together in this passage.
First of all, the central conflict in the Gospel of Matthew is the clash between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. And it’s kicked off by the good and holy magi making a mistake, thinking that the newborn king of the Jews would be born in the Jerusalem palace. They visit the ruthless King Herod, who history tells us had slaughtered his own wife several decades before to secure his own claim to the throne. The error of the magi, alas, makes Herod aware of another apparent threat to his rule, setting off a terrible chain of events.
Secondly, Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses, most noticeable when Jesus teaches from a mountaintop as an adult. But even as newborn babies, the parallels between the Moses and Jesus are remarkable. Both are born when the local king calls for the slaughter of all Jewish baby boys in the region. Both come out of Egypt to bring salvation to the wider world.
Back to the Holy Family. The manger scene shows a moment when all is calm and all is bright, but the serenity is short-lived. Joseph and Mary started their life together in truly precarious circumstances. An unexpected pregnancy that could have led to scandal or worse, to a religiously-sanctioned killing. The birth of a first-born child probably without a midwife or anyone else to help. A death threat forcing the family to flee to a foreign land, probably without getting proper permission from the Egyptian government to reside there. Even after Herod’s death, Joseph and Mary choose to raise their son in a different part of their homeland because of safety concerns.
Like his namesake in the Old Testament, St. Joseph was born of a descendant of Abraham named of Jacob, and like his namesake, he was forced to go to Egypt because of circumstances beyond his control. St. Joseph may not have been imprisoned in Egypt like his Old Testament namesake was, but I can still imagine that it was very difficult for St. Joseph to provide for his young family there.
St. Joseph heard angels speak in his dreams on a few occasions, but I can’t help but wonder if he awakened questioning if he had received a message from God, or if he simply had an over-active imagination. How often did he wonder if he was an abject failure in protecting the Son of God from danger? Jesus was born in a barn, wanted dead by the king, forced to live in a foreign land, and then raised in a different part of the homeland than expected.
St. Joseph is one of my favorite saints to pray with — because I think he’s like a lot of us. He often had to make consequential decisions on a regular basis, and surely he didn’t reeceive clear answers from God every time he prayed. And, as the joke goes, if Mary is sinless and Jesus is God, who’s the one in the family most likely to get blamed if anything goes wrong? Who’s the one who’s going to be plagued with feelings of doubt and inadequacy?
The fact of the matter is, Mary and Joseph repeatedly faced challenges that weren’t due to bad decisions — they were due to circumstances beyond their control. Gabriel told Mary that Jesus would be called Son of the Most High, and an angel told Joseph not to have the family return to Judea, but I’m sure Jesus’ parents were flustered every day on the countless decisions parents make when raising a child.
On this Feast of the Holy Family, let’s keep in mind that God does not expect anyone to be perfect — well, except Jesus and Mary. We honor the Holy Family today for what they have in common with us. When things go wrong — as they’re bound to go wrong from time to time — let’s heed the call in Colossians that we share with the Holy Family, to treat one another with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. (You know, some couples choose to have that passage proclaimed at their weddings!)
On the Feast of the Holy Family, we often talk about the family is the smallest unit of the Church. But today, I’d like to call our attention to the opposite: a parish is supposed to be like a family. Old St. Mary’s is a family of families and friends that the Holy Spirit first convened in 1833, and that the Spirit has expanded and guided throughout the subsequent 192 years. Our parish has never been forced into exile, but we have weathered the Great Fire and have moved locations 5 times. Whenever and wherever we gather, we pledge our love for one another, and we pledge to help each other grow in Christian discipleship. In the upcoming years, we need to focus on our dreams like Joseph did. What is God calling us to do next to better proclaim the gospel in the South Loop?
As we consider our relationships as a community family, let’s paraphrase today’s exhortation from Colossians and embellish it with an idea from Matthew 18:
Friends, we are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
Let us continue showing one another heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another.
If anyone has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven us, so must we also do… preferrably by speaking directly to the people with whom we have the grievance, rather than complaining to everyone else and asking them to choose sides.
And the most important thing to show to one another is love, that is, the bond of perfection.
Let the peace of Christ control our hearts, the peace into which we were also called in one body.
And let us continue to be thankful. Amen.