Gospel-Homily for Feast of The Holy Family (2025)

Read the Homily

God’s Story.

I work in a church that is over 100 years old. Almost every day, I get a surprise, and it is usually not good. So I guess I can say that I am pretty good at managing difficulties, setbacks, and problems. When I look at the early years of Joseph and Mary, I wonder how I would have managed the problems and difficulties they faced early on. For example, if I were conceived by the Holy Spirit as Mary was, I would have immediately told Joseph and explained what was happening to avoid misunderstandings. But Mary did not do that. She let the angel deliver the message. Mary allowed Joseph to have an angelic message. And if I gave birth to the savior of the world, to the I would never place the king of kings, and Lord of Lords, in a cow dish.  I would have provided a four-posted bed. But Mary did not do that. She did not rob the world of its first impression of the humility and simplicity of God. I also would not have allowed any visitors in the middle of the night, especially shepherds who have not bathed in weeks. But Mary and Joseph allowed the shepherds to enter and allowed the world to hear the story of the myriads of angels that sang and delivered a message of salvation. And if I heard that we had to go to Egypt to escape danger, I would have argued instead to go to my cousin Elizabeth, who lives in the Judean hills. No need to risk taking the child through the desert to go to Egypt. But Mary and Joseph did not do that. They instead created a wonderful connection between their Son and Moses, who also departed from Egypt. I would have used all of the difficulties of Mary and Joseph to create my own story. But it would not be God’s story. This is my question. Do we use the problems, difficulties, and setbacks in life to create our own story, or do we see our problems and setbacks as an opportunity to be a part of the divine story of redemption and salvation? The choice is clear.