It isn’t too difficult to understand that the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is holy by its very nature. Jesus, the Son of God, the sinless Virgin Mary, whom God chose to be his mother, and Joseph, a righteous man who obeyed the message of the angel and took Mary to be his wife under very questionable circumstances.
Once we have moved past our initial observation, there is a great tendency to stop reflecting any further because the Holy Family has little in common with the family we grew up with or the one we are currently a member of. We might conclude that the disparity between the Holy Family and ours leads us to believe Jesus’ family life was perfect, stress-free, and idyllic.
Thanks to St. Luke’s infancy narratives, this assumption is challenged. St. Luke describes an incident in Jesus’ life that shows that even in the holy family, there were moments of anguish, fear, and misunderstanding.
Parents worldwide have experienced the panic Mary and Joseph felt when they realized their child was not with them. Mary’s question is very natural: “Why have you treated us like this?” Jesus’ reply is to them, baffling: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” It is interesting how Jesus subtly but definitely asserts that it is God, rather than Joseph, who is his Father. This story marks the time in Jesus’ life when he consciously expressed his awareness that he was different and stood in a unique relationship with God: he was God’s Son, and his priority was to do the will of God. His commitment is to God’s kingdom.
The glimpse St. Luke gives us about Jesus being found in the Temple is a great help in understanding what makes a holy family. At the age of twelve, Jesus made it clear that the basis of a family’s holiness is doing the will of the heavenly Father. The Blessed Mother would do the same when her role as a parent diminished during Jesus’ ministry when she obeyed the will of God and stepped back so there would be little confusion about Jesus’ mission of salvation. While dying on the cross, Jesus said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son,” and to St. John, “Behold your mother.” Mary ceased being the mother of Jesus in a natural way and became the mother of all the living in a spiritual sense.
It becomes evident that the Holy Family is holy, not just because the members are holy but because they were willing to do God’s will. God’s will for all families is not to exist in a self-enclosed and self-engrossed unit. God wishes that families grow into a community that has a sense of being a part of the family of God that far surpasses familial bonds.
Jesus Christ will not allow us to love only our own or be concerned only about our inner circle of family and friends. When we become aware that we are all God’s children, when we really mean it when we pray “Our Father in heaven,” then we become open.
Our family or community becomes a base, a starting point, not an end in itself. Charity begins at home, but it never ends there. Let us realize our common humanity and our bonds with our brothers and sisters. If, like Jesus, we do this, we realize that God is ultimately our Father and that all people are, therefore, our brothers and sisters, with the right to our care, our love, our support, and our solidarity.