Holy Family: Year B, Dec 27, 2020; Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Col 3:12-21; Lk 2:22-40
On Monday night around 8:00 p.m. I got the news from the Hospital that my mother had died while she was resting peacefully. I was grateful, to God, that she was able to head home to heaven in a gentle and peaceful fashion and also thankful that I was able to see her earlier that day and give her the Anointing of the Sick, which in this case was truly the Last Rites.
A short time after getting the news Fr. Raymond, the pastor of St. Christopher, came by the Rectory to bring something for Fr. Frank. Fr. Raymond’s Dad had passed away recently, back in Nigeria, and Fr. Raymond told me that when he got the news, of his dad’s death, he immediately stopped everything and celebrated a Mass for his dad. Fr. Raymond asked if I would like to do that for my mother and I agreed.
So there, in the dining room of the Rectory, where Fr. Frank has his daily Mass altar set up, the three of us celebrated a Mass for my mom.
After Mass, we were sitting and talking and Fr. Frank, whose mother died in December of 2017, said that each of us was now an orphan. All of our parents were now gone. While that is true we, thankfully, have an abundance of family, and I don’t just mean our blood relatives.
After Katrina, my mother was temporarily living in one of my parishioner’s homes across the river in Algiers. My mom called me one day to ask me what I thought about her moving up to Tickfaw. She would be near Ponchatoula where my older brother now had his home. I told my mom that I thought it was a great idea so that she could be close to family. Her response was, “Yes, but I don’t want to leave you by yourself.” My response to that was, “I am not by myself there are over 2,000 families at St. Andrew the Apostle” where I was serving as a priest.
Today, we celebrate “The Holy Family”, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and while Joseph and Mary were related, by marriage, Jesus and Mary were the only blood relatives of that family group. And, we know, that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph’s family dynamic was truly blessed by God and part of God’s plan.
In another Gospel, from Matthew, Jesus makes it pretty clear that family, especially among people of faith, is not limited to blood relatives. Remember that Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
In this year of tremendous tragedy, when so many families have been devastated, we need to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to others, in our human family, who may not have a relationship with Jesus but who need Jesus too. It’s what family does for each other.
Jesus, while hanging on the cross, offered us his Mother to be our Mother too. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a family. If you were able to get a seat at one of the Christmas Vigil Masses, you should know, that I spared you from hearing Jesus’ very long genealogy, with all of those weird and difficult names, that the Deacons and I dread trying to pronounce. That genealogy runs from Abraham to David to Jesus but in truth, it doesn’t end there. You see, we are all part of that family tree too.
So, none of us are ever really orphans and none of us are ever really alone. With the Holy Family, we are family too.