Mt. 2:13-15, 19-23
‘When going get tough, tough get going.’ Today we keep the feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. I believe the celebration of this feast is very relevant in our time because of the challenges this particular institution encounters today.
When we analyze the story of the Holy family, we realize that this family was very fragile. First and foremost the Holy family had to encounter a sense of shame because all knew that Joseph and Mary were betrothed but they had not been living together. Mary was in Judea serving her cousin Elizabeth; when she comes back she was already carrying. At this juncture, the mental agony of Joseph could have been beyond words. What about Mary, the handmaid of the Lord? How she would convince others about her divine destiny of being the mother of the saviour? She was well aware of the Jewish traditions and punishment for carrying a child outside the wedlock.
Herod, who had a craze for power and known for his cruelty, by killing his own children to avoid future threats for the crown. At once, decided to eliminate the newly born king when he came to know about him, who is born in Bethlehem. We could imagine extending the cruelty of King Herod when he decides to kill all the children below two years. As a result, the Holy Family had to flee to Egypt.
The problems were not over. Just imagine the situation of migrants today? Are they wholeheartedly welcomed and accepted anywhere? Even though they are welcomed they remain as refugees and their freedom is very much limited. Everywhere they are looked with suspicion, just imagine the Holy family being an Israelite, going to Egypt. For an Israelite, it was the land of their slavery. Whereas for Egyptians, they were the causes of severe damage one after the other and finally they lost their entire firstborn. The historians recorded that they also plundered the Egyptians by borrowing their gold ornaments. Even though it happened several centuries ago, it could have been a bitter memory for Egyptians and invariably Holy family had to face the repercussions of this event.
Again after two years when they came back to the land of Judea they were forced to settle down at Nazareth in Galilee because of the political scenario. The Nazareth was a forsaken place and see the scriptural references that depict the notorious nature of the land like ‘would there be a prophet from Nazareth etc?’
When we analyze all these factors we can understand that this family of Nazareth had undergone all the possible difficulties, a human family could undergo, yet they were not discouraged or did not leave or abandon the other. They knew for sure that it is the Lord who brought them under the same roof and they lived a life saying on the Word of God. More than that Joseph and Mary they lived with the incarnate word of God. If we analyze their life the sole purpose of their life was caring this word of God. I believe the presence of this living word amidst them, helped them to accept all these difficulties with great faith.
As we celebrate this feast like the Holy family let us live a life based on the Word of God listening and acting that we may realize the strength of God that would empower our families to face the difficult moments with courage and hope.