December 31, 2023
I remember watching a TV sketch-comedy show in which two parents are found sitting on their living room sofa, sharing a glass of wine and reminiscing about how perfect Christmas Day was with their children and invited guests. Except it wasn’t perfect – not really. When, for example, the wife told her husband that she so admired his skill in assembling with ease many of the Christmas toys, a flashback is shown in which a very frustrated father is seen kicking a playhouse that he just couldn’t seem to make stand on its own. And when both parents reflect on how wonderful their children were in opening gifts, a flashback shows the siblings fighting and trying to destroy each other’s presents.
So much for the modern-day holy family …
And yet, let’s not be too quick to judge. Today’s Feast is a celebration of the Holy Family, not the “Perfect Family.” While it is true that Our Lord and His Blessed Mother were born without sin, that does not mean that Joseph didn’t get frustrated in the workshop or that Mary didn’t get tired from her household responsibilities. Holiness does not mean that Jesus and his parents walked around town like plaster statues with glowing halos. Rather, they simply spent the ordinariness of everyday life responding to the grace of God the Father in all they did, sharing love and compassion, patience and forgiveness in their own home and the world around them. That’s the definition of true holiness to which each of us is called.
At the end of the skit, the voiceover stated something rather profound as it relates to living as a family in today’s world: “Even when it feels like the worst, it is the best.” When seen through the eyes of faith, we can say that it is, in fact, true.
May you and your holy family – and the entire parish family of Immaculate Conception/St Jude mission – have a blessed New Year filled with Christ’s peace and merciful Love.