� �Holy Family
�They returned to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. The Child grew and became strong; he was full of wisdom, and God�s blessings were upon him�. (Luke 2:40) � And made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: �He will be called a Nazarene� Mathew 2:23. �We are celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family. �The Holy family is the model for all the families in the world. The world is looking at the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. There were and there are no parents who will be so blessed like Mary and Joseph. I think no other parents will be blessed like this couple from Galilee. They had a son and His name was � Immanuel (which means God is with us). Mathew 1:23.� Joseph received this message in his dream.� Joseph was given the message of salvation and that is� �For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a ! son and you are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from sins� Mathew 1:21. Joseph did as the angel commanded him.� He took Mary as his wife and he named the child. � He was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given him � Luke 2:21 Many miracles accompanied the Birth of this Immanuel (God with us). The moment Joseph received the message in a dream; the Spirit of God overpowered him. God took over Joseph. God Cleansed Joseph of his doubts about Mary. All his human doubts melted like wax. God filled Joseph with the Holy Spirit.� God enriched him. God send his angels to watch over him and guide him. Mary and Joseph lived in the atmosphere of blessing and grace.� Mary had many things to treasure and �Mary treasured all these things in her heart� Luke2: 19. Mary�� received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, at the annunciation of the Immanuel. The angel said to her �The Holy Spirit will come upon you� Luke1: 35. She became Spirit filled. She went and visited Elizabeth and Elizabeth was in turn filled with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit filled Mary visited Elizabeth. The angel announced to Mary the Miracle that Elizabeth received.� Vision is associated with incarnation and that is a common occurrence in the Holy Family. � Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and said in a loud voice� Luke 1:41, as the Holy Family started to take shape. �One of the virtual effects of the infusion of the Holy Spirit is enabling the people to praise God in a loud voice. Elizabeth, being anointed by the Holy Spirit, praised God in a loud voice. The thankful praising of Elizabeth elicited Mary�s Magnificat. Mary sang one of the most beautiful songs of Praise � My Heart praises the Lord; my soul is glad because of God our savior� Luke 1:46 �The world powers also worshiped Jesus.� �A star went ahead of the astrologers and stopped over the place where the child was� Matthew 2:9-10. The Holy Family was Holy because of the greatest encounter with God. This family was very distinguished because they had God in the person of Jesus. Their home was the abode of creator God.� God lived in that home at Nazareth, transforming that unit into a little Heaven in Nazareth, a little Heaven on earth. The Holy family is a model family for he worrying, struggling modern families. The Holy family was not the richest family in the world. They lived with what they had. This is a remarkable insight in the poor families and their joy. God empowered the poor people and their families. God blessed poverty and people who live in wants. Most of the Holy men and women in the Church are born into ordinary, struggling families, families where value system is intact.� Most of the vocations in the Church are from ordinary families. I don�t say Jesus was from a destitute family. He was from a dignified and ordinary family that struggled to make both ends meet. Jesus worked and his father worked as a carpent! er. They didn�t have the best income in the world. When they didn�t have money, I wonder if Jesus performed a miracle to save his parents from hunger. Jesus himself might have gone without meals at times. He may have a meal but some of those meals may not have been the best meals on the earth. One of the meals Jesus served in the desert place was fish and bread. Jesus multiplied the loves and d the fish. The risen Lord invited the hungry fishermen for breakfast. Jesus said to them, � Come and eat� John 21:12. Jesus participated in the meal of the fishermen. There was not a very rich meal in the seashore. They had fish and bread. � Jesus took the bread, and gave it to them; he did the same with the fish� Jon 21:13. Jesus prepared and participated in a simple meal. He lived in all simplicity and he was very close to the nature. Jesus was satisfied with what he had. The parents of Jesus worked hard and were satisfied with what they earned.� One of the outstanding features of the Holy family is that theirs was a praying and faithful family of God. They fulfilled the obligations prescribed by the law. � Every first born male is to be dedicated to the Lord. They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord� Luke2: 23-24. The Holy family was faithful to the law of the Lord. They went to present Jesus to the Temple because that was the law of the Lord according which the all the first-born male had to be dedicated to the Lord. �The Parents of Jesus didn�t take life for granted. They didn�t have pride in their hearts. God reined in their home and inmost self. God was in their thoughts, words and actions.� They followed the Law of the Lord. They were practicing Jews. They could have said, after all we have God with us so we don�t have to go to the temple. We have the Lord of the Universe with us. Why should we bother to get to the temple and offer two young pigeons? But they went to the temple of Jerusalem. At that time the travel was not easy. They had to travel either on foot or on a donkey, as they couldn�t afford a horse or a chariot. �When Jesus was presented in the temple, the parents were amazed what a Holy man and a Holy woman there did. �The child�s father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him. This child is chosen by God for the many in Israel.� Luke 2:33. It is remarkable to note what the Holy man has done. Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God ��Now Lord, you have kept your promise.� Luke 2:29. This Holy man had the Holy Spirit with him and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. Led by the Spirit Simeon went to the temple� Luke 2:26.� The Holy Spirit filled even this Holy man. Holy Spirit is part of the Christ event and Holy Family. There was also a Holy woman by the name Anna; She was eighty-four years old. She was a widow. She never left the temple. Day and night she worshipped the Lord. She did fasting and she did praying. This holy woman was also filled with the Holy Spirit. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, she also came to the temple of the Lord. She gave thanks to the Lord. � Spoke about the child to all who were waiting for God to set Jerusalem free� Luke2: 38 �When I talk to some of the Holy families on this earth, I find their concern on matters of earth and body. They are worried about providing a decent life, which they themselves couldn�t have, forgetting that they rose from nothing at times or from ordinary levels to what they have now. (I don�t discount exceptions. Some of you may be from affluent families and that is respected). The very same parents who lived in wants, struggle to provide everything for their children making the children idle and lazy at times. (I am not against providing for the children a decent life. What I like to stress is the anxiety of many a parent to provide everything for their children)? �I have heard of Alexander the great.� Reportedly he was sad when his dad conquered the neighboring countries. Every time there was a victory he felt bad and his dad asked him why he cried instead of rejoicing over the victories. Alexander reportedly has said �you don�t leave anything for me to conquer�. I think many of our children go through similar feelings of anxiety and insecurity living in the midst of all they have.� At times too much wealth is elusive. I feel that the over concerned parents are providing their children� extra things that they take away the enthusiasm and dreams of their children.� Some of the young parents may differ with me. That is understandable. I a! m not provoking a debate. I just express some of the factors that might be affecting our children. But I feel that withholding the challenges of our children is making them inert. The Holy family didn�t compete to take away the dreams of Jesus. The parents didn�t prevent Jesus from loving the trade of his earthly father Joseph, neither the Job of His heavenly Father. Jesus was lost when he was twelve years old. His mother asked him when he was found in the temple why he has done that to his Mom and dad, Jesus answered �Didn�t you know that I had to be in my father�s service� Luke 2:49. I think both Joseph and Mary were aware of the dignity of Jesus. I think the Holy family was not a family that lived and epitomized sex. When I listen to most of the couples, their problems revolve around the expression of their sexuality and I respect that God given quality. But there is a slight difference in the life of the holy parents of Jesus. They were Spirit filled and their orientation was not sex as I understand.� I don�t think that they ever degraded sex. I am not going in detail into this controversial issue. But one point I like to stress is that, everything has its propriety place and respect in life. Anything out of balance becomes corny or horny.� The Holy Family is projected in Psalm 128.� The psalmist pictured a Holy family. � Happy are those who obey the lord, who live by his commands Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home, And your sons will be like Young olive trees around your table. A man who obeys the Lord will surely be blessed like this.� Psalm 128:1-4. The psalmist envisions a peaceful and prosperous family, and that is a family, which obeys God.� � I think this is the message for our families on the Feast of the Holy Family. The Holy family was and is in union with God. Our families will be in union with God if and when we are in communion and communication with God. Just as the Holy Family obeyed the statutes of God, if we obey God�s commandments, our families will also be Holy.� Our families will be holy grounds where God stands.� Thus our families will be in union and love of God. When we are in communication with our God, there could be saints born of and in our families. �I think we could make our own holy families.� I have heard the dictumA �a family that prays together stays together�. I would say a family that praises God is Spirit filled because without God�s Holy Spirit, no family would be able to call God Abba, which means Father. �Happy feast to all the families. �God Bless you �Happy New Year �Fr Thomas Mathew/December 30, 2001 California ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com. **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. 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