“As long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:28).
As we continue our celebration of the Christmas Octave on this feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, this Sunday we hear readings at Mass that are about just that: family. They are accented by dedication to the Lord, and faith and trust in God with an openness to His will. In our first reading from 1 Samuel, we hear Hannah, the mother of Samuel, dedicate her only son – whom she bore at an old age – to the Lord. Samuel would grow up to be a very important figure in Salvation History. At God’s direction, he anointed first Saul and then David as King of Israel. And, as we all know, the Messiah was promised to come from the family line of David. The story of Hannah and Samuel brims over with various challenges so common to family life. Hannah, who prayed in desperation but with unwavering faith, hoping against hope, symbolizes the hope we are all called to have in our lives. What family doesn’t have struggles that require strong faith? And, Hannah, along with her husband, Elkanah, are great models of parents who realize that their role is to nurture and freely give back to God the children given to their care. And, their son, Samuel, learned to listen for God’s voice and respond with generosity.
In our second reading, we are reminded of one of the great gifts that comes to us at Christmas. In becoming a man, Jesus, the Son of God, draws us into God’s family so that, as we hear from the First Letter of Saint John, we are “called children of God.” God isn’t a distant creator, high in the heavens with no interest in us. No, like a loving parent, God is intimately involved in each of our lives. In fact, at our baptism, he calls us by name into his family! And, like any loving father, God wants us to “be like him.”
Our gospel account today provides us with the only scriptural insight into the Holy Family in their everyday lives as Jesus was growing up. It demonstrates the faithfulness of the family by relating that “each year, Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.” And, it shows that Joseph and Mary had passed on their faith well to their son, Jesus; they found him in the temple, “sitting in the midst of the teachers…and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.” And, like Elkanah and Hannah in the first reading, Joseph and Mary recognized that Jesus was given to their care but was truly God’s child. Meanwhile, Jesus “advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” We recall that, shortly after his birth, Joseph and Mary had taken their infant Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to God in the Temple as was dictated by the law God gave to Moses. In the Temple, the family had met Simeon who was divinely promised that he would not die until he had seen the Christ of the Lord. With faith in God and God’s promise, Simeon waited. To his delight, he not only met Jesus – he was able to embrace him! God’s promise to Simeon was fulfilled. In the Temple, the family also encountered Anna, a devout prophetess. Both she and Simeon spoke about the child and his future mission. Joseph and Mary’s faith in God would allow them to give their son the freedom to follow God’s plan for him, just as Elkanah and Hannah had done with their son, Samuel.
As you see, all three readings center on family, faith and an openness to God’s will. Elkanah and Hannah, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna were all righteous people of deep faith. All received divine promises that God fulfilled because they believed. Furthermore, Jesus, who is a descendant of David, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, will be a blessing for all the families of the earth, thus bringing the promise that God first made to Abraham to deeper fulfillment (Gn. 12:3; 15:4 and Mt. 1:1). As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, these readings invite us to think about our family, our dedication to the Lord, and our faith and trust in God with an openness to His will. As we honor the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph because they were righteous people, attentive and faithful to God’s promises to them, we acknowledge that we, too, are called to live in faithful obedience to God’s plan for us in our families and in the larger family of families – our parish and the universal Church.
As we prepare to begin a New Year in God’s grace, let us re-dedicate ourselves to following the example that Elkanah and Hannah, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna give us so that God’s promises may be fulfilled in us and we, too, may be faith-filled followers of Christ and holy families, strong in our faith in God and eager to open our hearts to God’s will for us.