Sunday Homily 12-26-10, Holy Family
Sunday, 12-26-10, Holy Family: Sirach 3, 2-14; Psalm 128, Blessed are Those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways; Colossians 3, 12-21; Matthew 2, 13-23.
Intro to readings
We could easily believe that political correctness is a recent development, but I want to show you how it existed in the first century of the Church.
Our second reading today from the letter to the Colossians is a great example of “spin”. Lets take a moment to consider the setting.
There are 13 letters which have Paul’s name associated with them. Modern scripture scholarship has determined that seven are indeed written by Paul, there are three, which he definitely did not write, and there are three where there is doubt about his authorship.
Understand that when Paul wrote for instance to the Romans, he was writing to a small Christian community within Rome, something not unlike our little community here. Society in the Roman Empire at that time was strongly patriarchal, namely it all centered on the man! Women, children and slaves were considered similar to possessions, namely they had no rights!
Now the extraordinary thing about Paul’s preaching was that he saw all people, by virtue of their baptism being equal, all belonging to the body of Christ. Recall one of his familiar lines: “in Christ all are equal, there is no male or female, no slave or free”.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7 we meet the “radicalism of Christianity”, – just as Jesus shocked the authorities by dining with sinners, Paul sees all as God’s children and equal. So in his letter to the Corinthians he says husbands and wives are equal. He is very careful to make sure that both have the same rights – they are equal!
Now take a look at the extended section of today’s second reading and we will see the spin put there by someone after Paul’s death. In an attempt to make Christianity “fit” better into Roman society we have the phrase ‘wives be submissive to your husbands’. Paul would have never said such a thing! Yet he gets the blame for it today!!
Feast of the Holy Family – Homily
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, that of Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus, whose birth we celebrated yesterday. I would like to reflect a little on the images we have of the Holy Family and how we are part of that family by our Baptism.
In the gospel we read today, this family experienced what many families today have to go through, namely living in a strange land. Matthew doesn’t tell us how things were for them in Egypt, but at least they stayed there a few years, they were not killed. When they returned, it was to settle in a different region, to Nazareth.
Thanks to a global economy, unlawful governments, wars, or the plague of drugs, many people today are forced to move, either within their own country or to foreign lands. They come as strangers into our midst. But we don’t have to be from somewhere else to feel like a stranger. Sometimes due to misunderstandings, or fear or hurts we can just as easily feel like a stranger in our own family.
The Feast of the Holy Family gives us time to reflect on our actions. By our baptism we are part of that Holy Family. Jesus is our brother.
The challenge, which the gospel puts before us today as Christians, is how well do we welcome our brothers and sisters. Remember the words of Jesus, when I was hungry, or lonely or sick, you did it to me. Out of fear we too quickly can build walls to keep others out, either out of our country, or out of our lives.
At St Vines, we do reach out. Over the past year we certainly have helped the sick, through our participation both by volunteering and financial aid to the CCAC. We have served meals at Thanksgiving; we have helped build the houses with Habitat for Humanity, given toys to kids who might otherwise not have them, and food to the Food Pantry. These are great things and we need to continue to do them. But we can too easily miss opportunities to tear down walls within our own family.
As we begin a New Year, a time when we make all kinds of resolutions to do better, lets not forget to see how we may become more conscious of the Family of God and those who are lonely, from another place, struggling.
Picture 1: Jack
Picture 2: Ryan with cookie
Picture 3: The Reads, Teresa, Taylor, Doug, & Zack
Picture 4: Emma, one of the 5 Bambini
Picture 5: Santa arrives
Picture 6: All the Good Kids awaiting Santa