28 December 2025 - Feast of the Holy Family ‘A’
Si 3:2-6, 12-14; Col 3:12-21; Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
Homily
Throughout the Old Testament, but especially in the prophets—Hosea in particular—marital love is presented as the image par excellence of the relationship between God and his people and as the model for all communion between human beings. In the New Testament, this same marital love becomes the image of the relationship between Christ and his Church and the model for all forms of communion within the Church. Moreover, by creating man and woman in his image, God made them beings of communion, and when their union bears fruit in the coming of a child into the world, they reproduce on earth the mystery of the Trinity, where the Spirit springs from the love uniting the Father and the Son.
During the other two liturgical years (years B and C), we read on this day two accounts from Luke recounting Jesus' journey to Jerusalem with his parents – the presentation of Jesus in the Temple by his parents in one case, and Jesus' pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his parents when he was twelve years old in the other. This year we read the Gospel of Matthew, which recounts a more dramatic event: the forced flight into Egypt.
Once two people who love each other have united their destinies through the bonds of marriage, everything that happens to one affects the other, and every decision each person makes must take the other into consideration. This is the model for all human relationships, including relationships within a community. From the moment we bind ourselves to one another through the bonds of communion in a community, everything that happens to each of us affects everyone else, and every personal decision we make, even the most intimate ones, must take all our brothers and sisters into consideration.
Mary and Joseph were betrothed at the time of the Annunciation. Following God's recommendation, which was communicated to him in a dream, Joseph took Mary into his home as his wife. From that moment on, both their lives were radically changed. Together they travelled to Bethlehem to register for the census, and the birth of Jesus transformed their lives in an unexpected way.
The family unit, which until then had consisted of two people, now consisted of three, and it was the fate of the weakest of these three that determined the lives of the other two. To protect their child's life, they had to flee to Egypt. After a few years in exile, they returned to Israel and settled not in Judea, for fear of Archelaus, Herod's son, but in Galilee.
From birth, Jesus experienced first-hand the difficulties and trials of the poor and oppressed, with whom he would always identify. How many families today, as throughout the centuries, are torn apart by war, forced displacement and exile? Moreover, all the characters who appear in this second chapter of Matthew's Gospel are emblematic figures rather than historical characters. The ‘Magi’ represent a humanity that is anxious and in search of salvation, capable of recognizing God in history and willing to step outside of itself and its security to go out and meet God. Herod and his son Archelaus represent exploitative and oppressive power, jealous of its hegemony and afraid of losing it, ready to resort to any cruelty to defend its privileges. In a sense, the only ‘real’ characters are Mary, Joseph and the Child.
The Child and his mother are inseparable. Jesus is, in a way, not yet completely separated from his mother. The expression ‘the child and his mother’ appears three times in this short text: After the Magi left, the angel said to Joseph, ‘Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.’ So, in the night, Joseph ‘took the child and his mother’ and fled. A few years later, the angel said to him, ‘Take the child and his mother and return to the land of Israel.’ Joseph is responsible for watching over and protecting them both.
The family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, despite its turbulent existence, remains a very concrete model for every human family. Paul's text in his letter to the Colossians (our second reading) describes the attitude that ensures a harmonious family life. His practical recommendations at the end of the text, particularly when he speaks of women's ‘submission’ to their husbands, belong to a cultural context different from ours (and, moreover, do not make Paul particularly popular with many women today). But the entire first part of the text, which is very beautiful, describes the attitude required of all people within a family as well as within a community. Since we are all beloved by God, he says, we must clothe our hearts with tenderness and kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and even forgiving one another when we have something to reproach one another for, remembering that we ourselves have been forgiven by the Lord.
This is a model that applies to each and every one of us: young couples with or without children, older couples whose children are already adults, or single people living in a religious community like ours or in any other form of community.
Armand VEILLEUX