A Tale of Two Families

Brief Audio Reflection on Matthew 2:13-15; 19-23 - The Feast of The Holy Family

And so we have the example of two entirely different families in this week’s gospel. The family of Herod wants all of life’s goodies and they will do anything to get them and keep them. Which family do we follow? For most of us I suspect the answer is a hybrid. We profess the Holy Family as our ideal. But as a matter of expediency, at times there is more than a little Herod in our homes than we care to admit. That doesn’t mean patricide and all the rest, but it does come down to a question of priorities. Do we live to serve or be served? Are we givers or takers? Do we live to glorify God or satisfy the almighty me?

These are questions for which God will hold each one of us individually responsible. But the answers do not spring up spontaneously from the void. They are shaped in the context of loving, Christian (and that means actively Christ-centered) families. They are a sacred legacy of family values held in trust to be passed down lovingly to successive generations. They are fostered in energized, evangelical parish families who live consciously and constantly in the love of Christ.

And so we pray on this feast of the Holy Family that we will stand with Jesus, Mary and Joseph and that we will answer with Joshua: Choose you this day whom you will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.