HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses offers a beautiful image: our Lord carrying the Israelites all along the way of their 40-year journey through the desert. On this feast day celebrating and honouring the Holy Family, we might review our lives, noticing how we have also been carried all along the way. In the quiet prayer of imagination, we might stand with Jesus and look back at the footprints across the sands of our family journey.

With him, we might recall a day, and perhaps even a season, when our family moved with ease and grace. The times we felt light-hearted and light-footed. The times when the world was filled with goodness and light, when peace and joy filled our minds and hearts. Those days when it was easy to feel right and good and holy. The times when prayer was an easily expressed Thank You.

Still standing with Jesus, we might invite him to help us review a day or a season that was not that. When life did not feel holy, sacred or blessed.

We are in good company. Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived through experiences that would not likely have felt holy in the moment. We can easily understand that most of that first Christmas did not look or feel holy. There were some moments that would have felt frantic and frightening. Imagine any first-time father scrambling to find a place for his labouring wife to give birth to her first baby.

It was downright scary when Jesus went missing. Picture how exhausted Joseph and Mary would have felt and looked after three sleepless days and nights. Imagine the deeply human moment of reunion: the intensity of emotion as they embraced a son who was beginning to find his way in life. Jesus was puzzled by all the fuss.

Consider the events of the passion. No one had time to think about looking or feeling holy. Alongside many others, Mary was simply enduring a great ordeal. It was walked, one pain-filled step at a time.

The reality of all those challenging times is that the usual rhythms of life, prayer and worship were interrupted. Perhaps there were moments when prayer became one simple word: Help! And that one word filled with the heartfelt sincerity born of deep agony. There would have been moments when tears expressed the pain and suffering that was too deep for words. And yet, we honour them as the Holy Family.

We are all part of that. Consider these words from St. Paul, honouring God as Father, the One from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. (Ephesians 3:15)

We look back and see the footprints in the sand, noticing the times we were privileged to help carry another. At other times, we were carried across the deep and difficult terrain of a great challenge. There were many times when we felt too frightened, too exhausted or too ill to pray. Only God’s grace saw us through.

We also see grace-filled moments of truth and beauty, times when the love in our hearts was made visible. The deeply heartwarming experience of holding a baby. The love that shines in the eyes of a parent who watches as their child explores the world. The beauty of siblings sharing a moment of light-hearted laughter or deep tenderness. The quiet words that inspire courage and keep hope alive.

Reviewing our lives, we are keenly aware that we are all still a work in progress. We pray for an outpouring of the graces we need. We invite the Holy Spirit to strengthen our inner selves. We trust that Christ will dwell in our hearts, rooting and grounding us in never-ending love. We ask for a deep faith-filled awareness that God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:16-20)

Across all generations, we pray for God’s continued blessing.

Brenda Merk Hildebrand has a deep passion for lifelong learning, education, and spiritual and palliative care. She appreciates the opportunities that have come her way to share life’s transforming journey with others: one-with-one, through intentional group settings, in animating workshops and retreats, and by way of her writing. Brenda is a long-time contributor to Living with Christ.