The Sánchez Archives HOLY FAMILY SUNDAY Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

A Celebration of Family

SIRACH 3: 2-6, 12-14
COLOSSIANS 3:12-21
LUKE 2:41-52

In a rare personal interview, granted not long before her death, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis remarked: “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do will matter very much” (Good Housekeeping, July 1994). For a woman whose wealth, education, background and connections could have assured her a prestigious career in academia, politics or diplomacy, her statement may seem surprising. Hosever, despite all the possibilities she could have pursued for herself, Mrs. Kennedy was convinced that family was ultimately the most important entity in her life; to her credit, she lived by that conviction.

Because family is the resting ground where values and virtues are inculcated and cultivated, healthy families are essential to the well-being of society. As anyone can attest, however, during the past quarter century, a variety of factors have contributed to the progressive fragmentation, isolation and structural evolution of the family unit, e.g. (1) an ever-increasing rate of divorce (more than one million per year in the U.S.); (2) a steady rise in the number of single-parent householders; one-third of all school-aged children live with one one parent; (3) in more than 50% of all households, both parents must seek employment outside the home; (4) mobility: more than 20% of American families change their residence annually or more often. These factors are compounded by what Dr. William Bennet has described as a cultural disintegration. “We have ceased being clear about the standards we hold and the principles by which we judge. As a result, we have suffered a cultural breakdown of sorts, in areas like education, family life, crime and drug abuse, as well as in our attitudes toward sex, individual responsibility, civic duty and public services.” (The De-valuing of America: The Fight For Our Culture and Our Children, Summit Books: 1992).

Ever aware and sensitive to the needs of the people and the signs of the times, the church gathers together the praying assembly today for a celebration of family. Today is not a time to bemoan the obvious difficulties which threaten every family but to accent the unique and positive qualities which every family enjoys. Today is not a day for dredging up an unrepeatable past by reciting the litany of how things used to be “when I was your age”. . . Today, with its newness, affords each family an opportunity to look truthfully and without regret at how things are and then to envision, realistically and with trusting hope, the direction in which the family would like to grow together.

To that end, Joshua ben Sira (first reading) invites family members to honor and reverence one another as God’s special gifts. He speaks of parental authority and of obedient children; in other words, he advocates discipline. Discipline, from which the word disciple is derived, means instruction or teaching. Although the word has been devalued by those who associate it only with punishment or control, the concept of discipline is far more comprehensive. One who offers discipline is actually acting as a teacher not only through rules and regulations but also by word and example. One who accepts discipline is willing to be taught. In his excellent book, Discipling in the Church (Herald Press, Scottdale PA: 1988), Martin Jeschke advises parents and guardians (teachers, ministers, etc.) to think of the authority they exercise over their words not only as discipline for the sake of good order but as a process of discipling whereby young people learn the ways of Chist and grow into moral conscientious adults.

In today second reading the family of the church is offered sound counsel on regard the interpersonal relationships upon which family is founded. Without critizising the author for what sometimes been dismissed as culture-board advice, each member of every human family is invited to allow this call to virtue to speak to their heart.

Luke’s gospel with its two-edged message reminds us that every child born into a family will bring to that family joys and blessings (“my eyes have witnessed your saving deed, a revealing light to the gentiles, the glory of your people” as well as sorrow and suffering (“you yourself shall be pierced with a sword”). Through it all, God, the one and gracious parent of us all, Jesus, our loving brother and the abiding power and presence of the Spirit remains ever near as the source and center of who we are as family.

SIRACH 3:2-6, 12-14

Veteran authors often advice novice writers who are eager to embark upon a literary career to “write what you know”. This is precisely the track followed by Joshua Ben Sira, a wise and experienced Jew who shared the wealth of his knowledge and insight on a variety of topics with his second century B.C.E. (ca. 180) contemporaries. A native of Jerusalem (50:27) who was prosperous enough to have been well educated in the Tanack, (an acronym for the Torah or Law, Nebiim or Prophets and Kethibh or Writings), Ben Sira was also a seasoned teacher (34:12-13) who may have represented his country in an ambassadorial capacity. His journeys afforded him a plethora of experiences and inculcated in him an appreciation of cultures, philosophies and traditions other than his own. An admired teacher and scribe, Ben Sira may have operated on academy in Jerusalem (51:23-39); he shared what he knew on a larger scale through one of the largest of all the biblical books; the work that bears his name (Sirach) has offered sage counsel to Jews and Christians for centuries.

In addition to all his other pursuits, Joshua Ben Sira was a family man, a husband, father and grandfather (see forward of his book) whose values and parenting expertise are clearly evident in his writings. Today’s first reading is an excerpt from a longer section (3:1-16) of his work concerning the honor due to parents. As Alexander Di Lella (“Sirach”, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall Pub. Co, Englewood Cliffs: 1990) has pointed out the ancient sage believed that the obligation of honoring a parent was an integral aspect of the life of faith. True religion, i.e. fear of the Lord in all its implications (1:11-30) necessarily involves duties to others, most of all to parents. The cornerstone of biblical ethics (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) honoring father and mother will, promised Ben Sira, bring long life, forgiveness of sins and other blessings. Convinced that family bonds endure throughout life, Ben sira saw no reason for the obligation of honoring parents to be related even when the parent had grown old, forgetful, feeble and/or senile.

Operating from an attitude which seemed to affirm that “love covers a multitude of sins”, Ben Sira even suggested that the kindness bestowed upon a parent could serve as an offering in atonement for sin! (vv. 3,14). John E. Rybolt (“Sirach”, The Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: 1989) is correct in identifying this idea as a feature now to biblical teaching. Before Ben Sira’s day, atonement was thought to be attained only through sacrifice. The second century sage expanded reverencing parents and almsgiving (3:20; 28:2; 34:26; 35:3). Atonement, however, is not automatic; sincere repentance must accompany positive acts of love and generous giving.

Today, as we celebrate family, most of us can probably identify the need for attachment in our lives; perhaps today might also afford an opportunity for making amends through sincere repentance and natural reverent love.

COLOSSIANS 3: 12-21

In this book called Parenting from the Heart (Senior and Schuster, New York: 1994) Steven Vannoys discusses the various messages which family members import one another. He explains that there are really only two kinds of messages, hurtful ones, that belittle or diminish them, or love-messages that reinforce the other’s goodness, their talents, their possibilities. When our children are young for example, we focus on every little misstep they take. What a difference a parent can make if they treat a child not as they might be at that moment but as they know they can become. Messages which can build up rather than tear down, messages which coax toward growth rather than crush the spirit, these provide the healthy framework within which mutual love and respect can flourish. It was just such a healthy framework that the author of today’s second reading wished to recommend to the Christians at Colossae.

In the process of their Christian initiation, the Colossians (like all believers) had allowed the word of God to speak its message and make its home in them (v. 18). As the “head of the household”, the word of God prompts those who have welcomed it to be “clothed with mercy” (v. 12) and “put on love” (v. 14). Scholars believe that these references to being clothed recalled the baptismal rite in which these newly initiated catechumens were vested in new garments. As a symbol of the new life and family of faith into which they had been born, they wore white, the color of purity and victory. Having divested themselves of their former ways and evil deeds, the newly baptized were then ready to put on the mind, heart and spirit of Christ.

Basing his challenge to virtue on each believes baptismal commitment to Christ, the ancient author of Colossians reminds his reader that those who have been chosen, beloved and made holy by Christ (v. 12) are thereby responsible to live in a manner which is consonant with their baptismal consecration. Because each belongs to God, members of nuclear families and members of the extended families of society and the Church are called to treat one another with the kindness, humility, patience, meekness, forgiveness and love with which they have been treated by Christ. This would preclude nagging negative and hurtful messages that erode the fabric of the family and shred the self-esteem of the members. Wives and husbands, parents and children are reminded that “whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of th Lord Jesus (v. 17). Suffice it to say, that if all family members were to keep this maxim uppermost in mind and heart, the inclination to bicker, berate and/or belittle would probably be seriously curtailed.

LUKE 2:41-52

Any parent whose parent has strayed, even momentarily, from his/her side has known firsthand the gut-wrenching feeling that Mary and Joseph must have experienced during that Passover season so long ago. However, readers of Luke’s gospel are invited to look beyond the trappings of this narrative, moving and pregnant as they are, in order to discover the evangelist’s real print and purpose. Raymond E. Brown (The Birth of the Messiah, Doubleday and Co., New York: 1979) has identified today’s gospel as a biographical apophthegm or a paradigm, i.e., a short story focus upon a central saying. In this narrative, the central statement is Jesus’ question, “Do you not know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (v. 49). Through this statement, Luke has made a profound christological affirmation; indeed the entire Lucan infancy narrative (as in Matthew’s) is offered to readers as an affirmation to what scholars have called the Christological moment. In their infancy narratives, both Mathew and Luke have pushed the moment of the revelation of Jesus as God’s Son back from the baptism (where Mark presents it: “you are my beloved son”, Mark 1:11) to the time of Jesus conception and birth. Jesus statement to Mary and Joseph affirms his identity as God’s son and reinforces earlier christological statements made by Gabriel (“he will be called Son of the Most High”, Luke 1:32), the angels (“for today a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord”, 2:11) and Simeon (“my eyes have seen your salvation”, 2:30).

In this narrative’s central pronouncement, Luke used the term dei (“I had to be. . .”, or literally, “it is necessary”) for the first of many times in his two volume opus (Luke-Acts). A term which denotes a sense of urgency or necessity, dei also communicates the evangelists particular soteriological insights. According to Luke, those events “had to be” (dei) or were necessary to the saving plan of God made manifest in Jesus. That he “had to be” in his Father’s house underscored Jesus awareness of his special mission and the special filial relationship with God which carried him through his ministry. Moreover, his acknowledgement that “he had to be”, who he was, and where he was also signaled his acquiescence to God’s will for him and through him, for others.

By sharing with his readers Mary’s thoughtful response to what had transpired in Jerusalem, Luke offers, as he did last Sunday (Advent 4) yet another lesson in discipleship. Without fully comprehending Jesus or the events that were unfolding in her family, Mary was willing to believe and trust in the wisdom of God. No doubt it is faith like hers that inspired the prayer of John Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) and can still inspire searching struggling families today. . . “Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom; lead thou me on. The night is dark and I am far from home; lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me. . .”

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