Homily | Year A | Holy Family | 12/29/2019

Sometimes I wonder… if my family was a tv show… what would be the ratings, and what would people see?

Most of the most memorable TV shows I’ve watched have all revolve around family dynamics. As a child I remember watching The Wonder Years ,

Family Matters , Full house and Home Improvement . Then in the Early 200’s it was

Malcolm in the Middle , Everybody Loves Raymond , and most recently Parenthood ,

Modern Family and The Middle .

Now, all these TV shows showcased very different families; different cultural backgrounds, different economic status, even different values than those of my own family experiences growing up as a Mexican-American; yet, somehow, they were all relatable.

The same can be said about the many families we encounter in scripture; from the Old Testament families of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Lot, and

Jacob… to the New Testament family stories like that of the prodigal son, Martha and Mary, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and the Holy Family… these are all families very different form our own, yet they are somehow still relatable.

That is because family values, although they might be lived differently generation to generation, culture to culture, family to family; they all emerge from universal values that all people can relate to. These values are mutuality, respect, and service, and we encounter them in scripture today.

We see these universal values in Old Testament Wisdom through the example of parent-child relationship. In the Jewish tradition, parents had a God- pg. 1

Homily | Year A | Holy Family | 12/29/2019 given responsibility over their children and vice versa, children once adults had a

God-given responsibility over their parents, especially when the caretaker role was reversed…

First parents had the responsibility to care, feed, clothe, and bathe their children… but there would come a time when the parent would grow old and frail and this responsibility would flip… the adult child would now have the responsibility to care, feed, clothe and bathe the aged parent.

This is a beautiful image and example that we can all relate to. Most of us will have to go through this experience in one or both ends… some of you already have… especially since for us Christians this responsibility is not only a matter of universality but of faith since we do have the commandment to Honor our Father and Mother .

How we ago about keeping this commandment differs. For some taking care of the elderly parents is something the children must do directly themselves, for others, it is done through a nursing home or caretaker.

Regardless of how it is done, what must remain constant, what must be grounding this responsibility is mutuality, respect and service. In other words, values must always be relational, values always involve the people around us.

When one or more of these core and fundamental values are missing, neglect happens. Occasionally we’ll see in the news about a caregiver physically and verbally abusing an elderly person… there is a lack of respect. Sometimes parents go months or years without hearing or getting a visit from their adult children… pg. 2

Homily | Year A | Holy Family | 12/29/2019 there is a lack of mutuality. Sometimes basic needs at home are not meet… there lies a lack of service.

The same principle can be applied to any relationships: between spouses, between siblings; between wonderful in-laws during holiday season… These are the values what keep families together. These are the values that allow us to navigate tension, disagreements, mistakes… and as soon as the family stops upholding these values, the breakdown begins, and consequently, the breakdown of society. What is a family but a mini-society? And if we cannot live in mutual respect and service with the ones we live with, how can we do so successfully with strangers?

I know how difficult this was for my own family when dad chose to leave.

We went through years of emotional and financial hardship… thank God we were able to overcome it, but many who go through this experience do not, and that effects people’s role in society…

The world needs healthy and functional families, responsible parents, good and grateful children that live in mutual respect and service, but this is not enough.

Families also need to be holy, modeled after the Holy Family, and we see one component of their holiness to model today.

Last week we heard how through a dream God told Joseph to not divorce

Mary and to adopt the baby she was carrying. Today we hear how God gives

Joseph two more directives. In all three cases, Joseph was obedient , even when he did not understand… and in all three cases, his obedience led to the safety of the pg. 3

Homily | Year A | Holy Family | 12/29/2019 child. Obedience to God is key for Christian family living, especially in a dangerous world.

Remember that although today we have this Christmas image of the birth of

Jesus as something very calm and serene, it was actually a very dangerous and stressful event. Jesus was born into a dangerous world, a world with people fighting and competing to be king, so when it is announced that THE King was born, immediately Jesus had a prize on his head. Since his birth, people have been trying to kill Jesus, and Joseph’s obedience served an important role in protecting

Jesus in these most vulnerable years of his early life.

Not much has changed. We are still born into a dangerous world. People are still trying to be kings, and the world is still trying to kill Jesus, but this time through the family. The family is where values are passed on, and if our values are those of Jesus Christ, then the world will be against our families too…

There will be those who try to kill Jesus in the family by saying marriage has no value. There are those like Richard Dawkins who say teaching kids the faith is child abuse. There are those who normalize relationships outside of marriage which statistics have shown increases the chances of divorce once married… there are many ways people can try to kill Jesus in the family… slowly the values of mutuality, respect, service and obedience to God vanish, and within a few decades we are left lamenting the good’ol days.

We have a mission today, St. Louise Family… a mission to renew our core values: mutuality, respect and service, and our need for holiness through our pg. 4

Homily | Year A | Holy Family | 12/29/2019 obedience to God… both are essential components for the Christian family. If you were in need of a new year's resolution, there you have one...

As cliché as it may sound: the family that prays together, eats together, does service work together, comes to mass together… does indeed have a greater chance of staying together.

So, if your family was a tv show… what would people see? Maybe they will see something like my own… a somewhat dysfunctional family with struggles, the adventures of a single mother of five trying to raise five very different children on her own… the craziness of sibling life, especially growing up the youngest of five with four older sisters…

Like many of the popular family TV shows, I think people would find in our own families things to relate to…

…however, I hope that unlike other TV shows, in the TV shows of our own family people will see Jesus as the major protagonist… a family who strives to live out Christian values after the Holy Family… a family that is part of a bigger family, the Church, our family of faith. Warning though, the ratings might not be so good... we might not be the most popular show on TV. Hope you are okay with that.

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