Feast of The Holy Family, Luke 2,41-52

There are always family holidays on Christmas Eve. All family members try to gather at home, with their parents, to experience them together. Today’s Sunday of the Holy Family should also deepen the sense of family cohesion and togetherness. Let us, therefore, delve into the word of God in today’s liturgy. We could give today’s first reading the title “How great personalities are born“. She was a mother who asked God for a son and dedicated him to God. Like Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel, Anna was barren, but the Lord heard her prayer full of faith and hope and fulfilled her desire. He gave her a son, Samuel. To bring the required sacrifice to God, Anna travels to Shiloh and gives him her promised son. She took care of him, knowing that she had received him from God, and he made Samuel one of the most significant figures of the judges of the Old Testament.

Children are indeed a gift from God, they belong to Him, and their mission is to serve the Lord God. This is each of our primary missions. Every Christian is, first and foremost, a son of God and belongs to the family of God’s children.The greatest gift that God has given us is that we are children of God, Saint John tells us in the second reading. We are called to be children of God, and look at the great love the Father has given us. The ship of the Son of God has been given to us as a pledge of salvation to reach its fullness.. This is the reason and foundation of our family love and human brotherhood. The story of the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple is a fascinating insight into the family life of the Holy Family. It tells us about the annual pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The theological message of this story is messianic, and Jesus’s action is prophetic. Jesus shows that he knows his mission well and announces that they will move away from their parents in the future. While Mary addresses Joseph as “your father,” Jesus speaks of God as his Father. His attitude shows that God and the calling he received from him have the highest place in his life, but then he again submits to and obeys his parents.

When Pope Benedict XV established the Feast of the Holy Family in 1921, he wanted to support the family, which was threatened from all sides. He wanted to remind governments in all world countries that the Creator establishes the family and cannot be replaced by anything. He also wanted to remind families directly that Jesus lived most of his life in the family, was raised there, and grew up there. He wanted to remind parents that they are not only at the birth of physical life but also of God’s life, and that the family is a place where children should cultivate virtues and good habits. After 82 years, we see – perhaps even more than then – how important it is still to have these truths before our eyes and apply them in our lives and the lives of society as a whole. Children are obliged to honor their parents. Obedience grows when parents create a suitable space for their children’s growth and personal maturation, where they give first place to God and the mission that God has prepared for them. Children do not belong to their parents but to God and his calling; these are the most important values ​​for a good family. Jesus recognized both obedience and independence in the family of Nazareth. Let us have the example of the Holy Family before us to create good and valuable relationships in our families and communities. Suppose children are to open up to a broader horizon than their own family. In that case, the horizon of parents must also reach further than their children because the highest value is not children but our Lord – the originator of life and our only good