Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to the Sunday Scripture Readings

“He Went Down With Them And Came To Nazareth And Was Obedient To Them”

This Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In this important solemnity, the Church seeks to show us what makes a family holy – how a family can live a holy life in the midst of daily struggles. Our two examples today are not perfect, idyllic families but fully human with all their ups and downs. Sustaining them, though, is a faith and trust in God.

Our first reading, taken from the First Book of Sirach (3:2-6, 12-14) can be summed up in just six words - Honor thy father and thy mother. It is a call for love and respect within the family that is holy as the holy family itself. Sirach writes, “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons . . . Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.”

In our Epistle reading (1 John 3:1-2, 21-24), St. John gives us a clue to our destiny, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him.” John’s letter calls us to holiness, to love one another, to have confidence, to believe in the name of Jesus. We who keep His commandments remain in Him and He remains in us.

In our Gospel reading (Luke 2:41-52) is the story we know well as “The Finding in the Temple.” It is a story of the tension of an adolescent Jesus, full of zeal to be about His father's business, and yet very much under the control and loving protection of His parents. In the end, Jesus returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to His parents, while His mother pondered all these events in her heart.

Our family is God’s gift through which we journey home to the Father; our parents, brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ are all on the same journey with us. May we pray for guidance and follow the example set for us by the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called Children of God."