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Friday, October 10, 2014

The Holy Family


In the context of family as an institution, Mary as the mother, Jesus as Son, and Joseph as the father (as a foster father), endured all the complexities of life through virtues that do not swerve neither to the left nor to the right but remained firmed and yielded to the Will of the Father.

Mary had bravely faced, persevered and endured the traumatic emotional and psychological pain while watching her Son in a terrible pain at the foot of the Cross (John 19:25).  Come to think of it, if you have personally witnessed your loved one’s suffering in sickness, there is more pain that the observer feels than the one who is physically ill up to the point that we’re almost clueless where to go and what to do because it haunts our mind and heart wherever we turn to.  
  
The Blessed Mother who bore Jesus’ for eight months dealt with the extreme haughty rudeness of the Jews in utter clemency.  Never that we could find in the Scripture that She behaved in a callous reaction against the barbaric collaborators which is a manifestation that She turned to God’s mysterious Redemption Plan.  How many of the parents out there who know about their emotional duties, but condemn their children with indigestible words when they’re tempted to swerve on the wrong path, than thinking of other intense alternatives to re-discipline them?  

On the other hand, St. Joseph as a father was known for his dependability. He was a carpenter and a working man "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't well-off for when he brought Jesus to the Temple for His circumcision and Mary’s purification, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, permissible only to those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24), which demonstrates that poverty can never be an encumbrance to be connected with God.

St. Joseph was an empathetic guy. When he ascertained that Mary was pregnant after they had been affianced, he discerned that the child was not his but was as yet oblivious that she was conceiving the Son of God. He intended to divorce Mary according to the law but he was anxious for her future anguish and security, as he was aware that women indicted of adultery could be stoned to death, so he was determined to divorce her secretly not to expose her to humiliation or vindictiveness (Matthew 1:19-25).  In today’s generation, sexuality turns to be a recreation to get pleasure out of it and leaves the relationship when it results to untimely pregnancy or the most dangerous about is when there’s a decision to abort the baby to conceal embarrassment and escape from accountability.

Jesus’ foster father was man of faith and submissive to anything that God demanded of him without being haunted by any foreseen result. When the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him the truth about the child Mary was conceiving, Joseph instantly and without any apprehension for a potential news-mongering, he took Mary as his spouse. When the angel appeared again telling him that his family was in a menace, he urgently left all of his possessions, his family and friends, and took flight to a strange nation with his spouse and the infant Jesus. He hung around in Egypt without question until the angel advised him of their security to return (Matthew 2:13-23).  In our times today, we need also to occasionally leave our comfort zones to free ourselves from the danger of temptation both materially and physiologically.  


St.  Joseph loved Jesus, whose concern was for the security of this Baby entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to shield Jesus, but upon his return he established an evidently secured subsistence in the incomprehensible town of Nazareth out of trauma. When the twelve-year old Jesus stayed in the Temple, Joseph and his spouse searched with great nervousness for three days that Jesus was nowhere to find (Luke 2:48). Joseph nursed Jesus as his own son as people of Nazareth say of Jesus repeatedly, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Luke 4:22) and attended Jesus’ throughout his public life

Joseph respected God by keeping His commands in managing Mary’s affairs taking his family to Jerusalem annually for Passover, which is a strenuous task for a working man like him. He was a virtuous man (Matthew 1:19).

The loving parents instead of giving in to the temptation, to be angered by the harsh treatments towards their Beloved Son, had remained calm and gentle.  The mayhem that they had came across never flipped their hearts, mind, conscience and strength to backslide. 

Although Son of God but this time in a form of a man, Jesus as a Son to Mary and Joseph was not immunized from suffering which hounded Him since birth wherein Herod needed to massacre the children of age 2 years under (Matthew :16) because of the threat that somebody from that lineage would sprout a King up to the time of His merciless execution at Golgotha (John 19:17)

Jesus as a Son had been obedient to His parents (Luke 2:51). With all the dedication and enthusiasm that Jesus had been executed, we are assured that it made Joseph and Mary to be proud of Him.  How many children are there on the row who make their parents proud than taking choices through vices which eat up the school budget that their parents have allocated through hard labor, and disrespect in spite of the psychological , financial, and emotional support which caused their parents to be devastated than recompensed with flattering output as a sibling?

Like any other ordinary family, the Holy Family had gone through a lot of temptations. Jesus had conquered many temptations emotionally and spiritually even up to the point that the tempter of the world had bid with Him exchanging security with financial opulence (Matthew 4:9) which implies that no one in this earth is exempted by the same kind of a temptation.  

In our turn today and to all the generations to come, we are represented with the Image through the Holy Family leading us to be a family who journeys in harmony, animating the love of God as a foundation of firmness to stand for the truth, with ardor to live up holiness, reliability to be submissive and dependent on God and simplicity to be meek and possess untainted heart and conscience.


With the present condition that most families are divided because of indifferences and immaturity brought by illiteracy on the virtues of love, compassion, humility, forgiveness, gentleness, acceptance; the impossibility of harmonizing them together can be the biggest issue. Whether we like it or not, families have been divided because generally we set aside God’s provision of grace through the significance of engagement in a community which the church builds up.

Whether young or adult, one has to get out of his/her comfort zone by involvement in the community of believers where these virtues can be nourished through team efforts of spiritual partners and elders.  The church is not an institution for the holy, (just like what the Facebook page admin’s recent reaction preventing me not to post something that is holy in an FB page that scrutinizes the social ills especially the corrupt officials, rationalizing that holy things do not be blend with unholy figures of the society), but a hospital for the sinners.

Please forgive me if I may sound harsh but we have to be transparent as reality check. Sincerity comes from the truth. Speaking of the truth is being concerned of others. Being concerned is a sign of love. And therefore speaking of the truth is not harsh but rather enlightens. It only becomes harsh because it touches an ego because reality bites. It's better to be hurt caused by the rebuke of a neighbor than to feel sorry in the end after self-realization that love of thy neighbor through speaking the truth really matters.

Naturally, the basic argument of a person who's invited in a community will be, "Our family goes to the church religiously so we're fine and no need for the community anymore." Right, the Liturgy is very substantial because it's the highest form of worship but what we have learned in the church should not remain inside the church and exclusively end in the perimeter of our homes but to be shared with the people in the community through witnessing, to multiply that grace and blessing. It's human tendency to be forgetful even on simple things that we've once learned, but we are reminded religiously when we commune with others because we believe that "Two heads are better than one." It came to a point that even two heads never become better at all because of two minds that are both materially-focused whose end-points are basically the same.  Meaning, these two heads become more stable when allied with another two heads who learn to be financially productive alongside with spirituality.  In mathematics, positive multiplied by positive is still positive but anything multiplied by negative has its product of negative.  Life is basically like this. 

The spirituality that we have learned in the Liturgy is reinforced inside the community where different stories of rise and fall are gathered which serve as inspiration and reminder as one major essence towards holiness because what we learn from them will be the same strategies that we can upheld in facing the temptations and encouragements of life.

The fulfillment that gives us and the family with exterior satisfaction can be intensified with an interior joy and contentment as we share our wisdom that bring us to a successful family to those in the community who are fallen short of it, to strengthen the weak, to give hope to the hopeless, to boost one's self-esteem. And when everyone's wisdom is incorporated in everyone's life, we are gradually forming a holy family, a family that we will present with a smile of confidence before the Lord, a family that will give us ultimate joy of success as we face another new phase of life in heaven, our eternal dwelling.

Acts 20:34-35 You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak and keep in mind the works of the Lord Jesus Who Himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you.

1 Corinthians 10:24 No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to Jews or Greeks or the Church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everyway, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.



References:
  1. Pope John Paul II , January 11, 2012 , Co-redemptrix & Fifth Marian Dogma, http://www.fifthmariandogma.com 
  2. http://www.catholic.org, Saint Joseph
  3. http://www.vatican.va, New American Bible

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