12-30-2011, 03:27 PM
Friday, 30 December, 2011, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN TO DISCERN AND FULFILL THEIR VOCATION IN LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: GN 15:1 – 21:3; HEB 11:8 –19; LK 2:22 – 40
Everyone is excited about the birth of a baby, for in the birth of a child we see life manifested. Indeed, giving birth to a new life is truly a miracle and an awesome experience. However, it is not enough to give physical life to a child. No mother, when conceiving and giving birth to a child, seeks to do just that. All mothers want to give life in the fullest sense of the word. That is why every woman can be a mother to a child, but not everyone can be a parent.
This explains why parents are always anxious about the future and destiny of their children. Upon giving birth to a child, one of the first thoughts in our minds, unspoken most of the time is “what will this child turn out to be?” and “what kind of future would this child have?” Yes, it is the hope of every parent that his or her child would turn out to be happy, successful and fruitful in life. We want our children to grow up to be loving, God-fearing, humble, and generous people, capable of selfless service.
We can be certain that this, too, was the aspiration and hope of Mary and Joseph. Of course, many of us fail to understand the anxiety of Mary as a human creature like all of us. We have been so influenced by Matthew’s and Luke’s infancy narratives of the childhood life of Jesus that we tend to think that Mary’s and Jesus’ destiny were all clearly marked out for them and that they were fully aware of what was in store for them in the future. The truth is that for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, they too as human beings, must have lived in the dark about their future. They too must have searched and discerned the plan and workings of God in their lives. They too had to live without the knowledge of the future.
But would that be contradicting the gospel infancy narrative when we read that Mary and Joseph from the very beginning, even before the conception of Jesus, were told of the future and destiny of Jesus? Well, we must first interpret the infancy narrative in perspective. The gospels, as we know, are all written in hindsight of the resurrection faith. That is to say, the evangelists who wrote the gospels did not start by tracing the life of Jesus and Mary. Rather, they proceeded to write the gospels based on their encounter or the faith of the early Christians with regard to the resurrection of Jesus.
Hence, the hermeneutical tool of interpreting the infancy narratives informs us that everything was written in the light of the resurrection. This means that the faith of Mary and Jesus must be seen as the full flowering of the faith of Mary. This explains why in the gospel, it is specifically mentioned “meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom.” Even Jesus too had to grow in faith, in wisdom, knowledge and maturity. If this is true of Jesus, it must be more so for Mary.
However, this does not mean that Mary did not know anything at all about the baby Jesus. Indeed, she knew that the child would be special and would be instrumental in the salvation of the chosen people of Israel. The fact that it was a miraculous birth and that there were miraculous births before Jesus, especially in the birth of John the Baptist, Mary would have had some inkling that her child would be different. By intuition and in faith, she knew that Jesus would be the Saviour of Israel. But exactly how Jesus would fulfill His mission is another matter altogether. This means that the concrete and specific development of the life of Jesus and her own life were relatively still unknown to Mary. Like others, they would have had to search and discern the plan of God as well.
Today, as parents, we too must also protect the future of our children. But we must be careful that we do not impose or decide their vocation for them, especially our unfulfilled ambition in life. When our children do not follow their calling, they cannot find happiness and fulfillment in life. Hence, as parents our duty is to help our children to discern their vocation in life. Like Mary, we are called to guide our children to respond to the call of God. In this way, we do not have to become too anxious as to what they should be, rather what they are called to be. Indeed, Mary’s presentation of Jesus to God at the Temple was but a symbolic act of surrendering the life and vocation of Jesus to Him. This too should be our attitude as well. For the truth is that the child is not ours but given to us to groom and to nurture so that he or she can grow up to fulfill the plan of God.
If we were to surrender our child to the Lord, what, then, is required of us? We need to cultivate the attitude of faith of Abraham. In the first reading, Abraham’s faith is praised. Abraham and Sarah surrendered their future and plans to the Lord. Indeed, “it was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it.” As if such faith was not enough, Abraham was given the ultimate test of faith when he “offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on.”
Such was the faith of Mary too. She too had to sacrifice her only son for the salvation of the chosen people. The sacrifice of Isaac was but the foreshadowing of the death of her only son on the cross. But in faith, like Abraham, she was “confident that God had the power even to raise the dead” and thus was given back Jesus from the dead. Truly, it was Mary’s faith that enabled her to see through the mission of her Son and her continued faith in God.
This faith however does not come easy. Already in the Christmas story, we are told a few times that unlike the empty silence of the townsfolk of Bethlehem or the noisy excitement of the shepherds, Mary kept all these things in her heart and pondered over them. Mary’s contemplative spirit kept her focused on the workings of God in her life and that of her son. She was not reactive or overly anxious about her son. Instead, she kept herself present before the Lord. It is in prayer and contemplation that Mary kept her faith in God.
This surely was the case of Simeon and Anna. If both of them were able to see more in the child than others, it was because they had been watching and waiting for the Saviour in prayer and fasting. As parents, we too must continue in prayer and discernment for our children’s future. With prayer and attentiveness to the Lord, we need not fear about our children’s future because we know that so long as they grow up to be people of faith, God-fearing and prayerful, the Lord will guide them to the plans He has in store for them. Unless, the family prays together and shares the faith together, we cannot co-discern together. The problem is that parents do not spend quality and personal time with their children. They are only interested in their studies, not in their personal lives, in what they do, their feelings, relationships, joys and anxieties. Because we do not spend time with them, we do not know them enough to guide them in their calling. Instead we impose our own vision on them which may not be congruent with their aspirations and talents. So to be co-discerners, we must walk and journey with them, the way Joseph and Mary brought up Jesus.
Of course, in the case of Mary, her task of discernment was certainly helped by the prophecies of Simeon and Anna as well, representing the faith community. Of course, their prophecies certainly increased their anxiety and awe with regard to the child. At the same time, their prophecies confirmed the intuitive faith of Mary with regard to the future and mission of the Child. He will be “a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel” and “destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare”.
But we also have our prophecies. We do not walk entirely in the dark! What people tell us and what we see in the child, especially his charisms. We must belong to the faith community. Our child must grow up with the faith community so that he can discover his call in the light of faith and under the grace of the Holy Spirit. Unless our children are involved in the Christian community of worship, love and service, it would be difficult for them to listen to the Lord speaking to them at prayer or the voice of the community. We must encourage our children and, like Mary, help them to grow to full maturity and wisdom in accordance with God’s plan and not ours, nor even his, or hers!
Only when all are doing the will of God together, parents and children, can we then call ourselves, truly the Holy Family. For we are holy when we all live holistic and wholesome lives in accordance with God’s plan and will for us.
RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN TO DISCERN AND FULFILL THEIR VOCATION IN LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: GN 15:1 – 21:3; HEB 11:8 –19; LK 2:22 – 40
Everyone is excited about the birth of a baby, for in the birth of a child we see life manifested. Indeed, giving birth to a new life is truly a miracle and an awesome experience. However, it is not enough to give physical life to a child. No mother, when conceiving and giving birth to a child, seeks to do just that. All mothers want to give life in the fullest sense of the word. That is why every woman can be a mother to a child, but not everyone can be a parent.
This explains why parents are always anxious about the future and destiny of their children. Upon giving birth to a child, one of the first thoughts in our minds, unspoken most of the time is “what will this child turn out to be?” and “what kind of future would this child have?” Yes, it is the hope of every parent that his or her child would turn out to be happy, successful and fruitful in life. We want our children to grow up to be loving, God-fearing, humble, and generous people, capable of selfless service.
We can be certain that this, too, was the aspiration and hope of Mary and Joseph. Of course, many of us fail to understand the anxiety of Mary as a human creature like all of us. We have been so influenced by Matthew’s and Luke’s infancy narratives of the childhood life of Jesus that we tend to think that Mary’s and Jesus’ destiny were all clearly marked out for them and that they were fully aware of what was in store for them in the future. The truth is that for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, they too as human beings, must have lived in the dark about their future. They too must have searched and discerned the plan and workings of God in their lives. They too had to live without the knowledge of the future.
But would that be contradicting the gospel infancy narrative when we read that Mary and Joseph from the very beginning, even before the conception of Jesus, were told of the future and destiny of Jesus? Well, we must first interpret the infancy narrative in perspective. The gospels, as we know, are all written in hindsight of the resurrection faith. That is to say, the evangelists who wrote the gospels did not start by tracing the life of Jesus and Mary. Rather, they proceeded to write the gospels based on their encounter or the faith of the early Christians with regard to the resurrection of Jesus.
Hence, the hermeneutical tool of interpreting the infancy narratives informs us that everything was written in the light of the resurrection. This means that the faith of Mary and Jesus must be seen as the full flowering of the faith of Mary. This explains why in the gospel, it is specifically mentioned “meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom.” Even Jesus too had to grow in faith, in wisdom, knowledge and maturity. If this is true of Jesus, it must be more so for Mary.
However, this does not mean that Mary did not know anything at all about the baby Jesus. Indeed, she knew that the child would be special and would be instrumental in the salvation of the chosen people of Israel. The fact that it was a miraculous birth and that there were miraculous births before Jesus, especially in the birth of John the Baptist, Mary would have had some inkling that her child would be different. By intuition and in faith, she knew that Jesus would be the Saviour of Israel. But exactly how Jesus would fulfill His mission is another matter altogether. This means that the concrete and specific development of the life of Jesus and her own life were relatively still unknown to Mary. Like others, they would have had to search and discern the plan of God as well.
Today, as parents, we too must also protect the future of our children. But we must be careful that we do not impose or decide their vocation for them, especially our unfulfilled ambition in life. When our children do not follow their calling, they cannot find happiness and fulfillment in life. Hence, as parents our duty is to help our children to discern their vocation in life. Like Mary, we are called to guide our children to respond to the call of God. In this way, we do not have to become too anxious as to what they should be, rather what they are called to be. Indeed, Mary’s presentation of Jesus to God at the Temple was but a symbolic act of surrendering the life and vocation of Jesus to Him. This too should be our attitude as well. For the truth is that the child is not ours but given to us to groom and to nurture so that he or she can grow up to fulfill the plan of God.
If we were to surrender our child to the Lord, what, then, is required of us? We need to cultivate the attitude of faith of Abraham. In the first reading, Abraham’s faith is praised. Abraham and Sarah surrendered their future and plans to the Lord. Indeed, “it was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it.” As if such faith was not enough, Abraham was given the ultimate test of faith when he “offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on.”
Such was the faith of Mary too. She too had to sacrifice her only son for the salvation of the chosen people. The sacrifice of Isaac was but the foreshadowing of the death of her only son on the cross. But in faith, like Abraham, she was “confident that God had the power even to raise the dead” and thus was given back Jesus from the dead. Truly, it was Mary’s faith that enabled her to see through the mission of her Son and her continued faith in God.
This faith however does not come easy. Already in the Christmas story, we are told a few times that unlike the empty silence of the townsfolk of Bethlehem or the noisy excitement of the shepherds, Mary kept all these things in her heart and pondered over them. Mary’s contemplative spirit kept her focused on the workings of God in her life and that of her son. She was not reactive or overly anxious about her son. Instead, she kept herself present before the Lord. It is in prayer and contemplation that Mary kept her faith in God.
This surely was the case of Simeon and Anna. If both of them were able to see more in the child than others, it was because they had been watching and waiting for the Saviour in prayer and fasting. As parents, we too must continue in prayer and discernment for our children’s future. With prayer and attentiveness to the Lord, we need not fear about our children’s future because we know that so long as they grow up to be people of faith, God-fearing and prayerful, the Lord will guide them to the plans He has in store for them. Unless, the family prays together and shares the faith together, we cannot co-discern together. The problem is that parents do not spend quality and personal time with their children. They are only interested in their studies, not in their personal lives, in what they do, their feelings, relationships, joys and anxieties. Because we do not spend time with them, we do not know them enough to guide them in their calling. Instead we impose our own vision on them which may not be congruent with their aspirations and talents. So to be co-discerners, we must walk and journey with them, the way Joseph and Mary brought up Jesus.
Of course, in the case of Mary, her task of discernment was certainly helped by the prophecies of Simeon and Anna as well, representing the faith community. Of course, their prophecies certainly increased their anxiety and awe with regard to the child. At the same time, their prophecies confirmed the intuitive faith of Mary with regard to the future and mission of the Child. He will be “a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel” and “destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare”.
But we also have our prophecies. We do not walk entirely in the dark! What people tell us and what we see in the child, especially his charisms. We must belong to the faith community. Our child must grow up with the faith community so that he can discover his call in the light of faith and under the grace of the Holy Spirit. Unless our children are involved in the Christian community of worship, love and service, it would be difficult for them to listen to the Lord speaking to them at prayer or the voice of the community. We must encourage our children and, like Mary, help them to grow to full maturity and wisdom in accordance with God’s plan and not ours, nor even his, or hers!
Only when all are doing the will of God together, parents and children, can we then call ourselves, truly the Holy Family. For we are holy when we all live holistic and wholesome lives in accordance with God’s plan and will for us.