Let’s return to the veneration of the Holy Family.
Let’s imagine our apartments. What decorates the walls of flats? Why? Does the image of the Holy Family still have a place in our apartments?
Let’s imagine the image of the Holy Family: Joseph, who works as a carpenter. Mary, as a housewife and a child, imitates Jesus, who follows them and is also the center of the family, giving it meaning, purpose, and value.
Is the image of the Holy Family kitsch? Does the Holy Family have anything to say to today’s modern family?
Yes, times are changing. What has changed only in our family! Let’s remember what troubles and worries us in the family, but let’s also remember what we desire, what we would like for our family, what we would like to gift it with…
The evangelist notes about Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ: “His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him” (Luke 2:33).
Indeed, the Holy Family is not a model of a country house, an idyll. The family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus did not have it all laid out on roses.
Although we know Joseph was the “head of a famous family” and a man of faith, he was subjected to trials. The fiancee informed him that she had conceived a child. However, he behaves like a loving and believing man, which is what the Gospel says, thinking about how to help Mary, and therefore, he does not want to prevent her from fulfilling the word she gave to the angel. He settles for the explanation of the angel in the dream. He becomes before the world the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus, in fact he is the foster father of the Son of God. He travels with Maria to Ain Karim to visit his relative Elizabeth. He is seeking shelter, a place in Bethlehem for God, who decided to save and redeem humanity. In the Gospels, we do not find a single word that Joseph said. And yet, from the descriptions of events, especially from the Gospel of St., We know from Luke that Joseph was a just, pure, wise, obedient, and faithful man… He dies quietly. He fulfilled his mission that God expected of him. We know about the flight to Egypt from Herod, or the loss of the twelve-year-old Jesus when he got lost in the temple, so Joseph’s life was difficult, demanding, dangerous, but he managed his role before God.
Mária also had to act to be a woman of action, courage, loyalty, and bravery. The angel’s words with which he addressed her during the annunciation, she deserved with her life. She did not disappoint God; she lived for God, with God, among women, but also in the nation and abroad for thirty years by the side of Jesus and Joseph; she did not bow down when she met her son when he was carrying the cross. She persevered faithfully under the cross and confidently accepted the dead body of her son in her arms.
Anyone who wants to look for something not mentioned in the Gospels wastes their time. Jesus, like his mother and Joseph, did not differ in anything special from the women, men, and their sons with whom they lived in Nazareth, participating together as believers in prayers in Jerusalem. And yet.
The Nazarene family until the end of time is a sign that many families oppose. The Nazareth family is a model for families and their members in fulfilling the will of God. God assigned a mission to each person, each family. However, God leaves everyone with the freedom to make decisions and reason to act. However, God, in his love for us, gives us the Nazareth family as a model, a reinforcement in fulfilling the will of God.
We know that even the most beautiful star in the sky will stop shining—even the most beautiful flower withers. Even the mission of every man and woman must end death. When every star or flower has its mission before God, should we, our families, be left with only crosses on graves or memories? It would not be enough. It would be unfair. When God decided to live in a family, to have a mother and a father, He wants us all to receive a reward after fulfilling the will of God. That is why God’s Son lived in a family so our families would live forever after death. Jesus rightly demands from each of us, from each family, that we do and fulfill the will of God and that God may one day reward us.
When was it easier and harder for the family? Which family has it easier or harder today? An old proverb says that there is no family without a chimney. Even though many houses no longer have chimneys, the proverb wants to say that every family on earth has a place for joy and pain; every family and its individual members must go through trials. It pleases God that we are afraid to offend him by sin and try to do according to his will.
We are people. Every family is made up of ordinary people. Although marriages are made for love, they are only made by humans. What is it talking about?
The first time they argued was when deciding who would sign the marriage certificate first. Who counts disappointments? He forgot the wedding bouquet. How often did he raise his voice when she offered him a cold lunch? Who counts the exchanges of opinions, the raised voice for little things, that he didn’t want to go for a walk with her, that she stayed longer with the neighbor, that he was reading the newspaper, and she wanted something from him? They have become ordinary, no longer look each other in the eye, and terse commands, requests, and orders have replaced nice words. However, this must not destroy their love. Vice versa. She knows that her husband is also tired, and she knows how to stand up for him. He knows that no other woman would be so tolerant of his mistakes. He also knows how to get up when the child cries at night. She will also say sorry and forgive so that the fire of tension does not grow and destroy their love, family well-being, and happiness. He does not leave education to his wife alone, but the children know that the father always follows the mother’s orders. From the beginning, children see the commandment of love: “Honor your father and your mother,” because their father and mother love their grandfather and grandmother.
The child knows the order should be fulfilled, not on the second or third request. Everyone in the family has rights and obligations that must be respected and preserved. They are not ashamed to ask, thank, and apologize. Decency and respect come from mutual love. To humble yourself, to separate yourself, to have time for another. They should grow older, realizing that someone else lives next to them. They are knowing how to conduct a dialogue with each other. They are not afraid of others, knowing how to confess, listen, have time for others, confide, and criticize—knowing how to give up their plans in time and without long speeches regarding a common cause. Adequately help each other.
When a storm comes, a disagreement, a misunderstanding, voices start to rise, arguments sound like lightning, and thunder shakes the family’s peace; you need to know that after the storm, the sun rises again, and winter comes spring. Just so that the consequences are not painful.
Material things are often the cause of tension. Modesty should not be missing in any family. It must not be true that only I want but that others also want and perhaps need more.
Human bodies cannot be underestimated. Not only do they get old and sick, but also sex should not be underestimated. Mortification, self-discipline, self-control, prevention, and instruction should be known before damage to character, good name, and honor could occur.
This also applies to alcohol, drugs, or computer games. To care about each other. Prevention of love is a blessing for the family and the individual.
Even though an individual or the majority will do everything in their power and power, and one or more will become a black sheep, the cause of sadness, tears, and pain, God asks repeatedly to help, forget, and save.
The priest said to the newlyweds at the altar: “I believe that one common Lord’s Prayer can do more for your happiness than anything else in the world.” They pray to him from the first evening. How often have they realized the words “sanctify themselves,” especially when they wanted to bypass the moral law? How often did they look at each other at the words “forgive us our trespasses”? How many times have they put their faith, when illness, death of loved ones, failures… into the words “thy will be done”? Years pass, and they still pray, although they are already called grandfathers and grandmothers. And they pray the Lord’s Prayer together every day.
It is hard to imagine a society without a family. However, hearing voices about registering other types of marriages, such as between a man and a woman. Paying respect and attention to those who feel something different is necessary. However, we must not forget that God created man for woman and vice versa.
It is also necessary to avoid hastily resolving matters through divorce proceedings. The Church also talks about parting from the table or bed. Unbelief is a sin. How many sins did God forgive us? It is necessary to know your guilt. Do not judge and condemn the other person immediately.
With the word abortion, let’s imagine that, in our case, the father or mother would say: we don’t want him to live. And we wouldn’t be today. We would have ended up in the trash can. Today, we would not know what love and joy are, but also what it means to be able to carry the cross, what it means to forgive, and who God is.
The Holy Family has something to say even today. To know, to want to listen. Perhaps approach physical and spiritual duties more responsibly. Everything is in time. Both youth, and beauty, and health, and success, and fame, and… But when we know that God is eternal and wants to endow us with eternity, it is the duty of a person gifted with reason and free will to fulfill the will of God.
The Holy Family does not teach us to cry. This is what the world and sin teach us. The Holy Family teaches us to hope, love, and believe. The world and sin will take everything away from a person. Even the ones we love. God promises that life does not end with death.
There is a difference between a funeral and “at a funeral.” There is always pain and sadness with him… But who believes…! We have Saint Joseph as the patron saint of death. According to tradition, he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. That is also why today, the Holy Family is an enrichment.
Let us stop today at the painting of the Holy Family. Although the painting is not of great value, it is not a work of art but has great moral value. Let’s look at the individual characters in the picture and consider their role in the family. Then and now, let hearts filled with faith, hope, and love speak. Let’s pray for ourselves, our dear ones, and our families… Let’s ask, thank, and pray for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
