The Family we are Given
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- Luke 2: 22 - 40
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for December 31, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
The Family we are Given.
Family. Sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them. Yet this is how God has ordained that we enter into this world. And not only that, our salvation happens through becoming part of a family – the covenant family of God, which we hear announced for the first time in this Sunday’s first reading, and it’s the reason Abraham is no longer called Abram from that point on.
God redeems things by entering into them. God redeems us by entering into our lives, and into our hearts at Baptism. Many people have suffered terribly as a result of their relationships with family members, and God redeems that by entering into our human family.
Covenant family, a multitude of nations – that all sounds nice, until we realize that the members of this covenant family of God – which today, includes the Church – are people from families with issues of their own.
As part of formation in religious life, candidates get to know and reflect on their family of origin. Our personalities, attachment styles, work habits, worldview, self-image, and more – is all directly impacted by the families we grew up in. No one family has all the answers – not even the Holy Family, as we see in today’s Gospel. It was through their being open to God’s guidance and encountering others, that God’s plan moved one step closer to being fulfilled in their lives and the lives of the people they met.
“The building up of the Church is effected in the parish especially by means of the family. The family deserves special attention so that, as the domestic church, it will find its rightful place in the mission of the parish. The family will realize its apostolic vocation through mutual love and common prayer, by living a life of mercy, justice and charity and by serving all people, especially those in need”