The Family of Nazareth Domestic Church

The Church's new liturgy, as renovated by Vatican II, each year dedicates the first Sunday after Christmas to the Holy Family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph: not only the holiest persons who have ever existed, but a reflection of the Triune God presented to us as the model of every Christian family.

What made the family of Nazareth so special were not at all human or social considerations, but the fact that they lived in a most simple way not only the human values one would expect from every family, but also and especially the presence in it of a Divine Person, Jesus Christ. The feast of Christmas, which we have just celebrated, offers us an object for our meditation whose mystifying effect on every human being, especially on Christians has never subsided throughout the ages.

God, the holiest and the infinite, has appeared in the world as a child, born of the Virgin Mary who was espoused to Joseph, an ordinary man who earned his living by the work of his hands. Nothing too spectacular for human eyes. And yet this apparently insignificant event has turned upside down the entire history of humanity and has given meaning to the existence of every human being.

When the parents presented the child Jesus at the temple, as prescribed by law, the priest took the child in his arms and, inspired by God, pronounced these words: "This is the light which shall give revelation to the Gentiles, this is the glory of the entire people."

We are told by the evangelist today that the Child grew in age, wisdom and grace. Three expressions which could offer us and every family a series of appropriate and useful reflections. Every normal child grows in age, at least physically. This, however, quite unfortunately, does not always bring along with it a growth in wisdom and maturity, and still less in grace understood as moral goodness and Christian virtues.

While it can be assumed that all parents love their children "as much as the pupil of their eyes" as we say in Maltese, it can be seriously questioned whether or not they have the right knowledge as to what is good for their children and at the same time the ability to provide it for them.

This becomes often all the more difficult by the fact that the scale of real values is being disrupted today, not to say scrapped or turned upside down.

Parents often think they are good parents when they have their children all they want rather than all they need or is good for them.

The choice in this respect today is often made not by the parents, but by the children themselves, even if they are under age. Money, freedom, sex and pleasure often top the list of the values in the children's minds, as if their happiness depended on these. All they hear or see, especially in the media, hardly ever concern anything else. The end result of it all cannot be but frustration, and often even recourse to drugs.

This is not to overlook the inspiring dedication we hear about from time to time and the sacrifices they make for charitable causes. But, if we really want to be honest with ourselves, such instances occur far between and involve only a tiny minority.

Not for nothing we see the Church today trying to bring back to the limelight the old biblical concept of the family as the "Domestic Church" to remind each Christian family of its call to be a "Church in miniature", in which all its members are united and inspired by a sincere desire for mutual service and sanctification.