Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family, Year A

Now that the Christmas season has begun, we celebrate today the feast of the

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This year, in the readings for Year A,

we are faced with the scene of St Joseph being warned in a dream to escape

with his family to Egypt. They have to leave now, right in the middle of the

night. Lesson number one: being faithful to the Lord means both great joys

and also inconvenience and suffering.

The first and second reading talk about family life, respect between parents and

children, and God’s blessings. Honouring father and mother is, of course, one

of the Ten Commandments, and this leads us to the subject of obedience. In the

second reading, St Paul says, “Children, obey your parents in everything”. In

the first reading this seems to be backed up where it begins: “The Lord

honoured the father above the children, and he confirmed the judgement of the

mother over her sons”. But surely, parents are not infallible? And some

parents might be mistaken over a detail or two, as well as one or two that are

not completely loving towards their children. Do children have to always obey

their parents in everything, no matter what?

Well, the simple answer is, in general, yes, but sometimes, no. As well as the

commandment to honour father and mother, there is also another one which

says not to steal. What do you do if your father or mother were to tell you to

steal something? Which commandment to do you obey, and which one do you

disobey? The clever answer out of that one is that you honour your parents by

not becoming a thief.

Honour to parents also extends to those in authority: that can mean teachers at

school, government authorities, and also the clergy (I declare a vested interest

at this point). Do we always have to obey them, as well? What did St Joseph

do? God is the supreme authority, and so when Herod sent his men to kill the

child Jesus, Joseph didn’t hand Him over, but rather fled with his family to

Egypt and trusted in God’s guidance and protection. The Catechism of the

Catholic Church [no. 2242] states that:

“The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil

authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the

fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel.”

It does also add, though, that even if citizens are being oppressed by their

government, whilst it is right for them to defend their own rights, they should

still obey the state’s legitimate demands. It is morally obligatory to pay taxes,

to vote and to defend one’s country, but once again with the same exceptions

[see CCC 2240]. If immigrants are bound to do this [see CCC 2241], then so

are the citizen who were born in that country.

The family pre-exists the state. Long before countries and empires were

formed, people lived in small communities together, and families existed. The

family is the first society that we come to know as children, and hopefully it’s

where we get to know God and how to live in society, where we are formed in

moral values and taught how to behave responsibly towards ourselves and

others.

A loving society is a well-ordered society, where there is respect, esteem and

where we see each other as made in the image and likeness of God. In the

Holy Family, Our Lord was of course superior to His parents, but it still says

that He lived under their authority. But I’m sure they also learnt from Him.

Human beings are not carbon copies of each other, and neither are families.

Each have different ways and customs, family stories and traditions, and also

rough edges. Christ entrusted Himself to family life, and we try, with God’s

help, to do the best we can as well.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk