Feast of the Holy Family Year A
Sirach 3:2-7, 12-14
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
We just celebrated the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who was born to bring salvation to humankind. The term salvation comes from the Latin salus, which literally means “health.”
Jesus’ mission was precisely to bring healing to all the wounds that humans suffer in their existence.
Today’s liturgical celebration aims at showing how Jesus’ healing begins in the most essential of all human communities: “The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life…. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of freedom” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2207).
The opening chapters of the Bible in the Book of Genesis present a series of events that show how badly human relations were affected by what is known as Original Sin.
We read that, as soon as that happened, division was introduced between Adam and Eve, then Cain killed Abel, and the following chapters present an increasing amount of evil. All this shows how God’s original project, described in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, was harmed, although it was not fully destroyed.
A theological expression states that “grace perfects nature.” It does not supplant or change it, but heals and elevates it.
Jesus’ salvific action, then, begins by healing the essential community among human beings. The first and second readings speak about virtues that are lived in Jewish homes (Sirach) and Gentile ones (Colossians).
The first one comes from a book alternatively named Ecclesiasticus, meaning “book of the Church,” and was used in the first centuries as a manual for education in Christian families (hence, the name.)
The second one, while describing virtues that belong to the natural dimension and the Gentile world as well, makes clear that the center of a Christian family is the Lord Jesus, through Whom we are to give thanks (eucharistein in Greek) to the Father.
The key element for those virtues to be lived is manifested by St. Joseph’s attitude to follow God’s indication – and by the explicit mention of the disposition that comes to be the foundation of the entire structure.
The responsorial Psalm explicitly states, “blessed is the one who fears the Lord.” We need to make sure we understand the biblical language.
At first glance, the term “fear” might raise in us some idea of terror, dread and anxiety, more connected to the idea of threat and power (which St. Joseph experienced in going back to the Holy Land: “He was afraid” (Matthew 2:22)).
In reality, “fear of God” is a sapiential concept, meaning it belongs to the realm of wisdom literature (Hebrew, chokmah, and Greek, sophiah.) It is a disposition of the soul rooted in reason and harmony.
The term “fear of God” is used 12 times in Sirach chapter 1, setting the foundation for the entire book. It is hinted at in Psalm 1 (“blessed is the one who … follows the law of the Lord”), providing a reading cue for the entire collection.
It belongs to the literary genre of Genesis. A very insightful commentary on the Book of Genesis – that deals with issues regarding human relationships in a masterful way – written by Jewish philosopher Leo Kass is poignantly titled “The Beginning of Wisdom.”
Hence, there are a host of elements that need to be conjured up when we read the expression “fear of God.”
Sister Elisabeth-Paul Labat, OSB (Order of St. Benedict) beautifully summarizes the basis of the concept, especially evident during the Christmas season: “We have, after all, the certainty that God is love, that all his ways are, as the psalmist said, mercy and truth, that his pleasure, far from being arbitrary, is tender and wise, and that this infinite tenderness and wisdom of God are also infinitely powerful” (The Presence of God).
The requirement for all members of a family, and for the husband and father in a special way, is that they fear the Lord.
This means that especially husbands and fathers learn God’s project for humankind, and learn the dispositions and virtues they must cultivate to make it happen. St. Paul summarizes it in a masterful sentence: “Over all, put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14).