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Sunday Scripture Study

Feast of the Holy Family - Cycle C

December 30, 2012

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Opening Prayer

First Reading: Sirach 3:2-7,12-14

Psalm: 128:1-5

Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-21

Gospel Reading: Luke 2:41-52

The Feast of the Holy Family, which developed in the 17^th century, honors the family group of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Built on the Gospel accounts, this family is looked upon as a model of ideal family life. To promote family life and build up devotion to the Holy Family, Pope Benedict XV established this feast for the Universal Church in 1921.

This story, which we know as the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary (like many other stories found in the “infancy narratives”) appears only in Luke’s Gospel. The infancy narratives end in the same location as they began, in the Jerusalem Temple (Luke 1:8).

All male Jews ages twelve and older were required to make three pilgrimages to Jerusalem every year—at the feasts of Passover, Weeks (Pentecost), and Booths (Tabernacles). Custom excused those who lived far away from the feasts of Weeks and Booths, but not Passover. Even though only older males were under obligation, often the entire family would go, traveling in large parties or caravans (males and females with small children traveling separately until making camp at evening) for convenience, fellowship, and safety.

This is the first time we hear about Jesus since the return of the Holy Family to Nazareth from Egypt, where they fled to escape the wrath of King Herod (Matthew 2:16-23). It is the last time we hear about him until his appearance at the Jordan to be baptized by John (Luke 3:1ff). This undocumented period of time is often called “the hidden years” of Jesus’ life.

QUESTIONS:

What was the significance of this Feast, for which Joseph and Mary made a pilgrimage from Nazareth to Jerusalem every year (see Exodus 12; Deuteronomy 16:1-8)?

How much does Jesus seem to know about his mission? How much do his parents know (Luke 1:26-56; Matthew 1:18—2:23)? If Jesus is God, how could he “advance in wisdom and age and in favor before God and man” (verse 52)? See CCC 472.

Why do you think Luke included this episode in his Gospel? How did Luke know about this, and other details surrounding Jesus’ birth and childhood (see verse 51)? In this same verse, what is Jesus attitude to Mary and Joseph? How is this a reflection of the First Reading?

What three qualities did Jesus display before the teachers in verses 46-47? What two reactions did he provoke by his actions in these two verses?

Why do you think Jesus was “surprised” that his parents were looking for him? Where should they have looked? How have you looked for Jesus in all the wrong places?

Has your hunger for God ever been misunderstood by your family? How? How do you maintain a healthy balance between daily responsibilities and serving God?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 531-534, 583, 503, 2599, 517, 472

I turn to you, dear parents, and implore you to imitate the Holy Family of Nazareth. -St. John Vianney

St. Paul Center Blog

Our True Home: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Feast of the Holy Family

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 12.28.12 |

Sirach 3:2-6,12-14
Psalm 128:1-5
Colossians 3:12-21
Luke 2:41-52

Why did Jesus choose to become a baby born of a mother and father and to spend all but His last years living in an ordinary human family? In part, to reveal God’s plan to make all people live as one “holy family” in His Church (see 2 Corinthians 6:16-18).
In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, God reveals our true home. We’re to live as His children, “chosen ones, holy and beloved,” as the First Reading puts it.
The family advice we hear in today’s readings - for mothers, fathers and children - is all solid and practical. Happy homes are the fruit of our faithfulness to the Lord, we sing in today’s Psalm. But the Liturgy is inviting us to see more, to see how, through our family obligations and relationships, our families become heralds of the family of God that He wants to create on earth.
Jesus shows us this in today’s Gospel. His obedience to His earthly parents flows directly from His obedience to the will of His heavenly Father. Joseph and Mary aren’t identified by name, but three times are called “his parents” and are referred to separately as his “mother” and “father.” The emphasis is all on their “familial” ties to Jesus. But these ties are emphasized only so that Jesus, in the first words He speaks in Luke’s Gospel, can point us beyond that earthly relationship to the Fatherhood of God.
In what Jesus calls “My Father’s house,” every family finds its true meaning and purpose (see Ephesians 3:15). The Temple we read about in the Gospel today is God’s house, His dwelling (see Luke 19:46). But it’s also an image of the family of God, the Church (see Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 3:3-6; 10:21).
In our families we’re to build up this household, this family, this living temple of God. Until He reveals His new dwelling among us, and says of every person: “I shall be his God and he will be My son” (see Revelation 21:3,7).