Not Human Will, but God’s: Vocation to Family Life
1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28; 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; Luke 2:41-52
The celebration of Christmas, the birth of baby Jesus, serves as a prelude to today’s celebration – Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Ideally, a family is incomplete without, at least, these three of its members (male-father [Joseph], female mother [Mary] and a child [Jesus]), if the Holy Family be our model, and not a legal family – family defined by human law. An added element to the composition of the Holy Family is divine will or role: a family that is founded by and on God has, at its basis, doing the will of God.
In the case of the Holy Family, Mary accepted to conceive and bear a child, after angel Gabriel spoke with her: she accepted marriage and family according to God’s will/plan, and not according to her own plans. In the same vein, Joseph had other plans of his own, which he jettisoned in order to embrace God’s definition of marriage and family for him. Jesus, the child in the Holy Family, is a divine gift from God and not a product of scientific maneuvering.
The last important element of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is Emmanuel – God-with-us. In other words, the presence of God in a family. A family that is not faith-based and prayer-entrenched cannot be a Holy Family because Emmanuel (God-with-us) is not present there. So, family and marriage, for us Christians, is in accordance with God’s will, and not human invention; it is nourished and sustained by God through daily family prayer – which makes God present to us, and the practice of Christian Faith is a palpable evidence that God’s plan is being followed through.
Each of the three dimensional and indispensable constitutive elements of the Holy Family outlined above (1. Parents and child, 2. Children as gifts from God, and 3. Life of prayer and keeping God’s commandments) is a subject of one of our three readings today.
Hannah, in our first reading (1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28), shows us the power of prayer as well as patient-faith. The barrenness of Hannah, up until God hears her prayer, is still the lot of many women and men today. Hannah’s faith, which her prayer manifests by calling upon God, and which her patience waits for, provides an example for us today: even science and technology, despite their so-called advancement, do not have the answer to every infertility, but God does! Consequently, the first lesson for a Christian marriage and family is faith, because every family and marriage definitely, at one moment or another, must weather a storm of some sorts, be it infertility, excessive fertility, poverty, illness, addiction, name it. Without the power of prayer and patience, these situations are quite overwhelming!
The story of Hannah’s faith, prayer, patience and childbirth – Samuel, in our first reading, overflows into the message of our second reading (1 John 3:1-2, 21-24), which talks about three things: 1) “Holy Spirit” as God’s presence among those who have faith, 2) “love of God and neighbor” as a necessary ingredient for inter-human relationships, and 3) the imperative of “faith” in the name of Jesus as well as the ethical imperative of “keeping God’s commandments.” The bottom line is that, from the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, God adopts each one of us, in love, into his divine family of the Trinity. According to our second reading, we are all children of God: “Beloved, See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). “Jesus” is the icon of God’s love, not only to the world, but to every family. Every child, welcomed into every family, symbolizes this coming to life of Jesus to every family. The experience of motherhood of every woman and the experience of fatherhood of every father dramatize the presence of the Trinity in our world today. Like the Trinity, which is held together by love, a role some Fathers of the Church attribute to the Holy Spirit – as the love-bond between the Father and the Son – every family and marriage built on LOVE, “love” understood as sacrifice, but not pure passion and legal rights, the presence of God is surely there and present. So children are gifts from the Lord just the way he adopts each one of us in Christ.
The gospel of today (Luke 2:41-52), in addition to making a life of prayer indispensable in the live of every family and marriage, tells us the composition of the Holy Family – a male-father [Joseph], a female mother [Mary] and a child [Jesus]. The Jewish people have feasts, at least three, which warrant the going up to the Temple in Jerusalem every year. Being faithful Jews, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem for prayers, in fulfillment of the Jewish liturgical law. Obviously, since children will always be children, Jesus goes missing and Joseph and Mary search him out: what a responsibility for parents to look after children, and lose some sleep over their children’s needs, hopes and aspirations; above all, reminding their children of the importance of God and vocation to worship God in all they do.
The obedience of Jesus to Mary and Joseph shows the role of children within a family and marriage. God attaches blessings to Jesus’ obedience to Mary and Joseph, at home: “Then he [Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. . . He [Jesus] increased in wisdom and in years, and in favor with God and human beings” (Luke 2:52). The disrespect of children towards parents because they can dial 911, should be met with a telephone number parents can dial so that their children be disciplined for their disrespect. The entitlement arguments of children should be met with obligatory chores and duties. The right to acquire knowledge in school – the science of making money/dollars, should be balanced out with the need for wisdom for life – for right living with other people, and that money cannot not buy everything.
Our homily boils down to VOCATION – a calling by God. In contradistinction to a career or profession, God invites us to choose our lifestyles on the basis of his calling or plan (vocation) for us, like Mary and Joseph. Everybody does not qualify to be a parent, so not everybody should attempt to be parents. The calling to the priesthood and religious life is not for everybody, so everybody should save the Church the shame of scandals and opt for other vocations. The belief that I can become anything I choose is not Christian because God’s gifts to each person are different. Perhaps we need to learn from the secular world: there are minimum requirements to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc; why should parenthood be any different?
Assignment for the Week
Compose a prayer and send it to your parents/children telling them your wish for them, especially an area of improvement in their spiritual life!