Family with a mission

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph 1st Reading:

Sir 3:2-6,12-14 2nd Reading:

Col 3:12-21 Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15.19-23
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[a]
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE

(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Today’s Gospel gives us an idea how Jesus entered into the world of humanity. It was not a walk in the park. As early as childhood his life was already threatened by those sitting in power. Mary and Joseph did their best in protecting Jesus. They even had to do what was close to impossible: to escape to another country on foot (or perhaps riding on the back of slow animals) to escape the wrath of Herod.
They also did their best in providing Jesus with the right environment. They didn’t have much money but they were driven by a strong sense of mission. Thus they lavished Jesus with so much love anchored on their unwavering faith in God. The Gospels confirm this in this wise: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and all the people (Luke 2:52). Their family was a family with a mission!
Our families too can be like the Holy Family if husband and wife nurture a sense of mission in entering marriage. While the family is “an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects” (Griswold vs. Connecticut, 381 US 479), one cannot just enter into marriage without any noble cause or without having in view some social projects to make this world a better place to live in. Have you already identified your family’s mission vision? –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.