Homily for the Holy Family: December 30, 2006

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

Sometimes we hear the Church or the parish referred to as a family. There is some truth in this analogy since the heart of the Church rests in good relations with others centered in Christ and the same can be said of the family. Jesus did say that the one who does the will of his Father is brother and sister and mother to him. But it would be more accurate to speak of it the other way around, of the family as the domestic church drawing out the meaning of the church as experienced in the family. St. Paul taught in this way. Husbands and wives should love each other as Christ and the Church love each other.

The Church holds in highest regard the place of the family in society. If family life is strong society will be strong. Stable family life is in trouble and any efforts to weaken the family need to be overcome. I think of former Secretary Califano’s promotion of the family meal. He actually demonstrates statistically that if the family has dinner together just one night a week, the rate of kids involved in drugs and sex is reduced.

The Church remains a firm advocate of marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of the family. Mother, father and children in a loving, respectful family setting are what we promote as the will of God. But the will of God does not rest just in the ideal. While we promote the unity of the family centered in Christ, we likewise find the grace of God at work in all the troubled and imperfect situations in our world. God is with the broken family, the single parent, and the family blended from situations of divorce. After all, Jesus has come to bring grace and healing to an imperfect world. Some people want the Church to be so pure and undefiled by not associating with any tinge of moral imperfection – something like the pharisees of Jesus’ time. But Jesus was known for his association with those who were the sinners and outcasts of his time. I do not recall Jesus throwing stones at the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery – no doubt by some very self righteous people. But it was the same Jesus who said that in your heart do not look with lust on another, even more strongly on the permanency of marriage: What God has joined together, let no one set aside.

I was with a couple the other day who have been married for almost fifty years. He was driving and she was giving the correct directions to where we were going. But he was sure he was right in the turns he made. At this point she turned to me and said: “Dr. Billy Graham had it right when he said, ‘We are happily incompatible.’”

One of the great strengths of the Catholic Church is that she teaches the truth of God but she does so in the real world of human limitation and imperfection – even with a sense of humor you might say. The doctrines of our faith are not ideological but pastoral. God’s love remains not within God but has entered the world in the very real person of Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh and dwells among us, good people but always in need of redemption.

The family today is in need of redemption. The way of Christ and the teachings of the Church as the servant of God’s Word offer a moral compass to the world on the place of family life in the plan of God.

Last Update January 2, 2007