December 28, 2025

Feast of the Holy Family (A)

Peering into the Home of Nazareth

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

 
A comedian of yesteryear, George Burns, said, “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family…in another city.” We can relate with that at times. No family is perfect. Family life can be complicated. No family operates at optimum level at all times—there is always some level of disfunction. Outside every home, we might well post a sign that reads, “Under Construction.” And yet, for all its challenges, family life is the vital cell, the building block of a healthy society.
 
Today we turn our eyes to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to see them as a model for our own families, but not because the circumstances of the Holy Family were ideal. Mary and Joseph could tell us of the family’s hardships—the poverty surrounding the birth of Jesus; today we hear of their flight into Egypt. Think of it! At a moment’s notice they left all that was familiar, home, family, and country to escape the wrath of Herod. Years later, think of their panic, their anxiety at not being able to find Jesus for 3 days. Their life was hardly ideal.
 
There are many qualities in the Holy Family that we can make part of our own. I’d like to highlight three:
 
The first is understanding. In the Incarnation, God literally “got into our skin” so that we could say, “God understands me. God knows my weaknesses and struggles.” We too must become “incarnate” with others, putting ourselves in their shoes so that we can understand them. This doesn’t mean we must always agree with them but understand them. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “We do not see things as they are, but from where we are.” We should strive to understand things from the standpoint of another. 
 
This is often a challenge because we often want to remake people into what we think they should be. We want them to meet our expectations. None of us can see the whole picture, but we can commit ourselves to opening our eyes, as much as we can, asking God to show us what we need to see, asking God to help us understand. 
 
The second is mercy. Mercy was an ever present virtue in the Home of Nazareth. There kindness and compassion were found, there the needy would find help. It is not surprising then, that Our Lord would “hammer away” at the need to be merciful. Think of his Parable of the Prodigal Son. In the face of painful, rash decisions, departure, resentment, and pride, we find the humility of conversion, a parent’s unconditional love, and the joy of homecoming. Within the family every member’s dignity should be restored and respected. Every member should be able to know the joy of new beginnings.
 
Finally, we find in Nazareth the primacy of prayer. It was prayer that made Mary and Joseph “inwardly watchful for the divine” and “sensitive to God and his ways.” Jesus so absorbed this attitude, that in the Gospels we would find him continually at prayer. Prayer is what unites us to God. It keeps us from adopting the enticing but deceptive secular values; it keeps the needs of our loved ones, living and deceased before us. Prayer is central to family life if it is to flourish. Pope Francis often warned against allowing our homes to become just a “boarding house.” Striving to be understanding, merciful, and prayerful, our homes can become a mirror of Nazareth.