Christmas: family feast

Jesus grew up like all of us in a family – coming from the family of heaven to that of Mary and Joseph and their extended family. We know his grandparents’ names; he had cousins and he didn’t get on with them all; he had an aunt as the wife of Clopas.

All of us are children, some are parents, some are grandparents, aunts and uncles. All play an important role in the lives of the family – the younger generation. Where Church and state strengthen and support parents and children they are doing something essential.

None of us has the perfect family. Families include people with all sorts of difficulties – alcohol or drugs, crime and prison, people who don’t talk to each other; families who had to leave home and come to Ireland for work, or leave Ireland for work. Joseph and Mary had their family difficulties – their child could have been killed by a mad king Herod, and they couldn’t go home for fear of him; Joseph died leaving Mary a widow, and Jesus was murdered in front of his mother. The holy family know what family life is about, and our faith is a support to family life.

In our family we learn most of the important things of life. We salute today families who survive and support each other in difficult times: parents bringing up their children in a one-parent family; grandparents making sacrifices for another generation; people widowed and living now without their loved ones; adoptive and foster parents. We thank our parents and families for sacrifices made to bring us up.

Jesus, guide us in life;
Mary, look after us;
Joseph, pray for us.

Donal Neary SJ