The Holy Family / A 26/12/2010
Matthew 2, 13-23 (p. 252)
Among the liturgical seasons of our Christian year, Christmas time or the Nativity of the Lord is the most brief. Before the liturgical reform it lasted until 2 February, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the temple. Today it ends in January with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Our celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation is both brief and intense: it is a string of festivals that synthesizes the Christmas season. Starting from its foundation, the birth of the Savior on the night of the Nativity, until beginning of Jesus' public ministry at his baptism, through the feast of the Holy Family of Mary Mother of God and Epiphany ... Than spiritual wealth in so little time! We are celebrating
Boxing Day in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, not as a separate party but a celebration of the Christmas season, that is to say, a party who demonstrates an aspect of mystery of the incarnation. When God made man in His Son, even if it is born by a virgin birth, he entered, too, in a human family. Mary's place was absolutely necessary in this divine incarnation. But instead of Joseph is just as well if it seems less clear in that it is not the biological father of Jesus. Joseph had to take him home to his wife Mary that the Son of God incarnate and that he therefore really like each and every one of us a real family man.
If Luke emphasizes the role of Mary, St. Matthew, he center his story on the person of Joseph. We have already met this quiet and charming figure in the Gospel of the 4th Sunday of Advent with the text of the annunciation to Joseph in a dream. God takes a special way to interact with the adoptive father of her only son: he sent his angel to Joseph while he sleeps to guide the conduct he should adopt. Our Gospel reports still three angelic manifestations in the course of a dream, which is not nothing! In the Holy Family Joseph takes the place of father and protector. When God wants to be so close to the men and told them his love, the enemy of mankind is doing everything to try to defeat the incarnation of the divine Word. In Bethlehem, in the census, there is no room in the inn for Mary pregnant and Joseph. After the birth of Jesus among the animals in the stable, Joseph managed to find accommodation for his family in Bethlehem as suggested by the text of Matthew at the coming of the Magi. But now a new danger is rising with the madness of King Herod, hence the need to flee to Egypt. Perhaps some fathers might envy, thinking that Joseph was really easy for him to be a father because God whispered in dreams to behave ... The example of Joseph shows us a paternity which protects from danger, a paternity which saves and protects life. But Joseph was nevertheless not a possessive father. He disappears from the Gospels, unlike Mary, after the painful episode of lost and found Jesus in the Temple at the age of 12. Joseph is the father who protects life in its beginnings, Jesus baby and child, then give way to his son and his mission. Vocation as a father today is probably more difficult to live at other times, and for reasons we all know. The difficulty lies, I think he, in the appropriate balance between a protective and loving presence and respect for personality and freedom her children as and when they grow and become empowered. Protect does not stifle or shut up. As well as respect for freedom of her children does not mean indifference towards them.
St. Joseph can finally be a source of inspiration for fathers in his manner of doing things. If the Gospel tells us of Mary's words, have you noticed that Joseph seems to be the big dumb one who does not speak? This is the man of dreams, we have seen. It is also one that is characterized primarily by its action: "Joseph rose in the night, he took the child and his mother, and departed into Egypt, where he remained until Herod's death, "" Joseph rose and took the child and his mother, and returned to the country of Israel. " The sanctity of Joseph, husband and father, is in his action for his own, in her docility to the inspirations of God. The good father would it not he who is aware of participating in the fatherhood of God? Would it not he who leads by example, by his actions more than words? It seems so when we contemplate the figure of Joseph. And what is true for fathers is also to some extent for anyone devoted the education of children and youth. The authority will always be better than the example given, an example that invites the child to desire what is good and just. An example that the young want to imitate it perceives the act as well is the source of true joy.
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