The Sunday between Christmas and New Year (if there is one) is celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family. Pope Paul VI visited Nazareth in 1964 and spoke of the lessons we can learn in Nazareth. The first is the value of silence. We know virtually nothing of the life of the Holy Family for the thirty or so years that Jesus lived there with Mary and Joseph. Curiosity about what their life was like led to some wild speculation about their lives as early as the second century AD. But the only reliable source, the Bible, is mostly silent. The Holy Father sees that as a lesson for our own lives. We are always tempted to action, to doing. Certainly Jesus did a lot in his life. But it was preceded by a long period of silence, of reflection, of learning to listen to the voice of God in prayer. We need to recover the value of silence in our own lives.
The second lesson is the importance of family. Family is the place of our greatest loves and our greatest hurts. Look at the one scene we do know about in the life of the Holy Family. The adolescent Jesus ignores his parents and goes off on his own. When they finally found him after three days of anxious searching his mother confronted him (my guess at the top of her voice): “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” To which Jesus basically responded, “What’s your deal, Mom?” The Bible doesn’t give Mary’s response (I’d love to know what it was) but it does report that Jesus heeded the chiding of his parents and returned home. What a great illustration that family is not only the place of nourishment and support but also of forgiveness.
The third lesson is the value of work. Jesus was born into a working class family. The Bible suggests that he learned the trade of Joseph and, doubtless, helped him in the shop for many years. Working has a value and dignity in itself since it enables us to participate in the divine work of creation. A society can be measured by how well it enables its citizens to use their gifts and talents to work effectively and with dignity. Recovering the value of work as a fulfillment of our human potential is one of the lessons of Nazareth.
On the Feast of the Holy Family it is appropriate that we give thanks for our own families. They might not be as holy as that of Jesus, Joseph and Mary but they are ours. Praying for each of them by name, extending forgiveness to those who have hurt us, thanking those who are so generous to us might be the proper response to the feast.
