“Here is a light you will reveal to the nations” (LK. 2, 32)
Merry Christmas!
At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of Christ in the human family. Christmas thus highlights the important role of the family in the saving mission of Christ. We hear in today’s Gospel about the joyful presentation of Jesus in the temple and the prophecy of Simeon regarding Jesus as the light of the nations and the glory of the people of Israel. This message of Simeon is central to the idea of Christmas. Thus, Isaiah testifies: The people who walked in darkness, have seen a great light (Is 9:2) Jesus will later address himself as the Light of the world (John 8, 12). The importance of Light in our lives and in our world remains indubitable. Light guides our steps, brightens our vision and strengthens our convictions. When we lose the light, it becomes difficult to realise our mission.
The same is true about our family life and mission. When Jesus the light is welcomed into our family, peace and love reign. What do I mean by welcoming Jesus into family life?
In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul advises husbands and wives to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21). By so doing, he underscores the importance of establishing our family on the faith in Christ, because our relationship with the Lord imparts our relationships in our families. It is in surrendering to Christ, that wives get the strength to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives (Col 3:18-19). The same is applicable to children in their relationship to their parents. The faith in Christ provides us with the light we need for our family life. Strengthened by faith, we learn to be patient with the impatient and understanding with the quarrelsome (Matt 5: 46). Enlightened by this faith, the family is called to spread this light everywhere.
This mission of bringing the light of Christ to our world is synonymous with the mission of the family as the first school, the first church, the first social structure and the place where the foundation of human relationships is laid. Made wholesome by the faith in Christ, the family is called to renew the face of the Earth through the love parents have for one another.
Many of the personality disorders we experience today in adults are as a result of the failure of the family to be committed to its mission. Many psychopaths and sociopaths come out of dysfunctional families. The greatest gift that parents can give to their children and to our world is the love they show one another and to their children. Little wonder, Pope John Paul II asks the family to become more and more, what it is, a community of life and love (Familiaris Consortium, n. 17)
Our Gospel reading today about the presentation of Jesus in the temple depicts the Holy Family as a family found on love and obedience to God’s word. The Holy Family is therefore an inspiration for us to ensure that our families are founded on family prayers, attendance to Mass and the reception of the sacraments. For it is in so doing that our families shall be renewed in love.
May Jesus, the light of the Holy Family, strengthen our family life of faith and love. May He make our families holy and exemplary for the many other families in the world. Amen.
[Readings: Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Col 3:12-21 or 12-17; Lk 2:22-40]
