[Although it is May 2nd as I write this, I am backdating it to May 1st, the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker and the beginning of Our Lady's month of May, when we honour her crowning as the Queen of Heaven.]
It is wonderful to have a day on which to honour both Mary and Joseph, the Mother and foster-Father of Christ, for in their hidden life in Nazareth, we have the example of family as God intended it to be. There is very little written about the life of the Holy Family before Jesus’ ministry began. So how can we use them as an example by which to live?
A lot can be learned from being aware of the customs of a devout family during the time of Jesus. Living according to the laws of Judaism, they would have a family pattern which was set out in Scripture, with study of God’s Word and attendance at the Temple the basis of their life. Joseph, the carpenter provided for his family through his work. Mary, the wife and Mother provided for her family through her work! That is what parents do ~ the fact that the work each is called to is different does not devalue either one or the other. Of course Mary would not have worked outside the home, but the home would have been her sphere of influence. Her loving, caring for and nurturing of Jesus were vital to the man and ministry that was to come. Making His meals, sewing His clothes, cleaning His cuts and scrapes when He fell, are all acts of sanctified work and love…so too is ours. To be honest, I think that there must have been much about this special, holy family that was quite ordinary, and didn’t standout as being very different from the lives of many families around them. The beauty of the incarnation, is that Jesus grew up in an ordinary, working, Jewish family!
The lesson we can learn from these hidden years in Nazareth, is that it is not only “ok” to be an ordinary family, it is a blessing from God. We do not need to strive to riches or greatness. Huge houses, flash cars, expensive clothes, ostentatious jewelry, exotic holidays…none of these are necessary. So often people look for these things outside of themselves to try and relieve the boredom within, missing the very blessings under their noses. I would imagine that Jesus’ family had very little, and expect that Mary lived a frugal and careful life, and yet God chose this to be the environment Jesus grew up in.
God also chose a man and a woman, reflecting His blueprint laid down in Genesis, Adam and Eve. It is a fact of sadness in our world that not all children can benefit from a home where there is a Mother and a Father. Sometimes, this is because of the tragedy of a parent’s death, sometimes because the parents have made unwise choices; at other times it is because of fear and abuse. In all of these situations, there is a loss to be grieved ~ in some of them, sins to be repented of. Unfortunately, the family is not valued enough today, and it can be financially more difficult in a home with two parents, especially where the Mother chooses to be a stay-at-home Mum. How our society has warped and twisted God’s plan for us! And it is now seen as acceptable for two people of the same sex to have children, either through IVF, AID or adoption, regardless of the impact this may have on the well-being and development of the child involved. I would be seen as homophobic in some circles for believing that to choose a same-sex relationship means to lose the opportunity to have children. Children which are a gift, not a right. We are encouraged, even in the Church, to bend over backwards to accommodate “new expressions” of the family unit, but at what cost?
So maybe some would look at the example of the Holy Family, and feel that it is out-dated, and not relevant anymore ~ but God doesn’t work in relevancies, God’s ways are timeless. We need, more than ever, the example of Mary and Joseph living a quiet, devout and simple life. Perhaps this month of May is a good time for all of us to revisit our family vision, and ask God if we need to make changes…
+JMJ+ ~ pray for us who have recourse to thee!
