Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
December 26, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ, ¹

 

I hope that you had a beautiful Christmas yesterday and we continue during this season of Christmas asking for God’s blessings for our families, for our Church, and for our country.

So, I can say that — Christmas was just yesterday so, this is a unique Christmas because we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on the very next day following Christmas.

And it gives us a beautiful opportunity to reflect on the celebration of Christmas — the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ — as a “family story.”

At the heart of the Christmas story, as we know, is the holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

And today in our first reading, we hear another family story, this time about the birth of the prophet Samuel.

We just heard about the birth of Samuel and we remember that his mother, Hannah, was unable to have a child. This was a deep sadness for her. She prayed and prayed for a child, and finally God answered her prayer.

So, in the reading this morning we heard that Hannah came to the Temple with her husband — the Temple in Jerusalem — to offer their beloved son to the Lord. And I was thinking that when we see this scene, we also, as we heard in the passage of the Gospel, we think about the presentation of Jesus in the Temple when Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph went with him.

And I was reflecting on the words of Hannah. I think they are beautiful. They are filled with humility and gratitude and trust in God. She says: “I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request. Now in turn, I give him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.”

And I was reflecting on how this is, I’m sure, the prayer of every Catholic parent. Because God entrusts parents to care for their children. But more than that, he calls them to “form” their children, to bring their sons and daughters up in the ways of God.

Jesus Christ came into this world as a child in the womb. Jesus chose to be born in the heart of a human family, a family rooted in the love of a husband and a wife. My brothers and sisters, it is a beautiful mystery. 

We heard in the Gospel today that after that visit to the Temple, Jesus “went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”

I think this is another part of the mystery. All those years — in fact, most of his earthly life — Jesus spent living in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. And then they also had, as we can see and learn from the Gospels and from the life of Mary and Joseph, that they were part of a large extended family that included cousins, aunts, uncles, and also Jesus’ grandparents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, Our Blessed Mother’s parents.

And it’s very beautiful to see how Our Lord’s life was “hidden” in Nazareth, where he was a good son, an ordinary child growing up in an ordinary home. And what we hear today in the Gospel is one of the few scenes that we see from that time.

And as we heard: “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

As Jesus learned and grew in the house of Mary and Joseph, so we are called in our families to help our children and to shape them in the image of Jesus, to help them to grow in wisdom and virtue.

We see the importance of family and family life. Sometimes it is a challenge. It was a challenge for Mary and Joseph — when they went to the Temple and they couldn’t find Jesus after those few days that they were there.

But it is a beautiful mystery and it is the plan of God for humanity.

So today, we ask for that grace — the grace of wisdom and virtue — for all parents, to make their homes a place where children meet God and learn to pray and live according to his ways.

So I want to insist, my dear brothers and sisters, that what you do in your homes and your families is so important.

Family life is a mission. Being a good husband, a good wife, a good mother, a good father — it’s a vocation. It is a beautiful call from God.

So today especially, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, let us ask Mary and Joseph to show us the way. They received their child as a beautiful gift from God, and they loved him and cared for him with deep affection.

It was beautiful to hear in today’s Gospel how Mary and Joseph followed the religious custom of going on a family pilgrimage each year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

This reminds us that children learn more by our example than our words.

So children need to see their parents living their faith with joy and confidence. The best thing for children is to have their parents pray with them and to go together to Church, just as Mary and Joseph did with Jesus.

And if parents show them how to love God and to serve God in simple and ordinary ways, it makes a huge difference in the life of the children, as it has made in our own personal lives, I’m sure.

So this week as we continue in this beautiful season of Christmas, let us try to live with the love of the Holy Family — in our own families and in all our relationships.

And I encourage you, my dear brothers and sisters, to be joyful in the way you live! Your children will want to follow you, they will want to learn from you and be like you.

It is such an important duty for all of us to always try to transmit the love of God for each one of us and how we can correspond in our daily life — loving God and loving one another.

So let us ask Mary our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to help us to live every moment in the presence of Jesus and to love him as they did.