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Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 28th December 2014 - Feast of the Holy Family


I was trawling though writings and sermons about the Holy Family, partly out of interest but mainly curiosity and what I found was, as one might expect, a pretty hefty statement about the wonderful influence of Joseph and Mary on Jesus - the inference being that somehow they lived a domestic life rather akin to the ‘best’ model of what one might call the official ‘Christian’ life, one of harmony, loving synchronicity between husband and wife, obedience from children who are brought up in a ‘safe’ environment!

I have no doubt that the influence of the parents of Jesus were hugely important, but this tidy model of family seems to me to be very deficient, firstly because that tightly defined unit does not take into consideration the richness of wide familial and other relationships that enrich and enhance us. Jesus would have been brought up with a whole host of other people and that would have meant a rich tapestry of relationships, both good and bad like any extended family!

Secondly, Jesus takes us away from being inward looking, the blood being thicker than water variety; for him the real family is God’s, his brothers and sisters are those who hear the word of God and live it. He is not blind to the downsides of family life, the problem of over familiarity making us blind and unheeding.

Sometimes families can be destructive and constricting, the true worth of some members can be ignored, like the prophet not honoured in his own home, Mk 13.57. Again, discipleship of Jesus means that love has to grow and change, so that those original primary relationships become part of a richer, bigger connection with our brothers and sisters in Christ, for the sake of the Kingdom, Mk 10.29.

Don’t get me wrong, family is important, but it isn’t everything. Many people have little or no family to speak of, others alas, have had bad experiences, and all of us have some people who are cut off or estranged from us.

What this feast gives us is hope, the great renewal of hope in the Messiah found in the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 2.22-40) It is there in the words of Simeon and Anna where we see the key to real relationships renewed in God: our inner thoughts will be laid bare, the windows of the soul will be opened and we shall recognize that we are all one family in God.

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.

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