Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - Feast of the Holy Family

December 29th 2019

I'm not sure how people who are not practicing faith persons would take to the sentiments expressed in the readings we have for this feast of the Holy Family? I might be forgiven for suggesting that many young people would look slightly askance at this sort of language found in our extract from Sirach, where parents are set over children, and have authority over them, where the children's responsibility is to honour and revere parents, it all seems very one sided! Those of us of a certain age might be able to accept this, but in the light of current knowledge in psychology and biology, we might now make a strong caveat, that all this applies only if mutual love binds all persons together in equality, but alas we know that life is not a fairy tale !

The sad fact is that for many attuned to a more contemporary world view, families are understood as complex and human relationships can be more variable, where sometimes the other side of love, those horror stories of cruelty, hurt, and abusive behaviour lurk.

Nevertheless we cannot give up on the central truth found in this feast, family is important, only it isn't all about our blood relationships, but a far greater family where the ties and bonds are built on love, compassion and mutual respect.

Let's try something different and try to reread our second reading from Colossians (Col 3: 12-21) in such a way as to subtly shift the meanings in a more inclusive manner. Try this: firstly the whole context is not simply family life but our vocation God's chosen ones who are called to greater love, that bond of perfection:

'Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do'.(Col 13:12-14)

If we live in this deeper sense we can transform the meaning of what at first might seem harsh, yes, we must be subordinate to others-but in the sense of trying to put people's needs before our own, that is what is proper in the Lord! We are called to a vocation of mutual love-part of that task is striving to avoid any bitterness towards others. As children of God our faith journey means we need to learn true obedience, not slavery, and to cultivate a real attentive discernment in all areas of our life (that's a root meaning of the word obedience, ob audire, to listen 'towards' God) , in other words opening up to God as much as we can and discovering God listens to us too! Then those of us in any leadership role, not matter what it may be, are not to provoke others-so they may not become discouraged.

This is how we interpret the Scriptures in real life, not in the abstract but in the real forum of our own lives. All this we find in the teaching and ministry of Jesus to whose true family we all belong.

Lectio Divina

"The first service one owes to others in a community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God's Word, the beginning of love for others is learning to listen to them. God's love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives God's Word but also lends us God's ear. . . . We do God's work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them." - Bonhoeffer

To be a child means to owe one's existence to another, and even in our adult life we never quite reach the point where we no longer have to give thanks for being the person we are. - Hans Ur Von Balthasar