This Little Light of Mine...

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (A)

Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Colossians 3:12-17 or 21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Video: YouTube TeachForIndia

My dear friends, do you use candles? As you know, they come in different shapes, sizes and colours. Some even have different smells. So how do you tell a good candle from a better one? Or if you were asked to describe an ideal candle, a model candle, what would you say? Is there even such a thing as a model candle? What do you think?

I’m sure not everyone will agree with this approach, but perhaps one way to do it is to first ask what a candle is for. And if we can agree that a candle’s primary purpose is to receive and bear a flame, then we might say that an ideal candle is one that does that best. So that even if a candle may not be as pretty or as large as another, or may not smell as nice, we could still say that it is a better candle, if it burns more brightly and more steadily, even when placed under conditions that are less than ideal.

Following this approach, we can also begin to discover what we need to do to care for a candle. For example, I’ve been told that the wick sometimes needs to be trimmed, so that it won’t smoke when it burns. The point is that we judge what is good for a candle by considering what will help it to better receive and bear a flame.

But why, you may be wondering, am I talking about candles on a day when we should really be talking about families instead? To answer this question, it’s helpful to remember that the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is presented to us today as an ideal, as a model for us to imitate. In the words of the prayer we offered earlier, God has been pleased to give us the shining example of the Holy Family… And yet, my dear friends, in what way is the Holy Family meant to be an example, a model for us? What exactly about Jesus and Mary and Joseph are we supposed to imitate?

It may be useful for us first to remember that there are at least two important ways in which the Holy Family was less than ideal. First, it did not conform exactly to the usual shape of a conventional family. At least not according to the particular standards of its own time and place. For although Mary was married to Joseph, and Jesus was her son, Joseph was not the boy’s biological father. Isn’t this why Joseph originally intended to break his engagement to Mary?

Second, in addition to not conforming exactly to convention, the Holy Family also lived, at least initially, under conditions that were far from ideal. Not only was Jesus born in a smelly stable, and placed in an unsanitary box, used to hold food for farm animals, the gospel also reminds us of the challenging circumstances the Holy Family had to face, soon after Jesus was born. To escape the murderous intentions of King Herod, they had to flee by night into Egypt. And even after Herod had died, and they could finally return to Israel, they had to be careful not to settle in the lands ruled by Archelaus, one of Herod’s sons who was known for his cruelty.

But if conformity to convention and ideal conditions are not the things that make the Holy Family an example for us, then what exactly are we called to imitate? What is it that makes Jesus, Mary and Joseph a model family? The answer is actually not difficult to find. For we all know that God brought the Holy Family together for one main purpose. Namely, to become  that human candle capable of receiving and bearing the light of Christ into the darkness of our world. 

And this was by no means an easy thing to do. It required much courage and trust in God. Enough courage and trust to agree to become an unwed mother. Enough courage and trust to accept a wife pregnant with someone else’s child. Enough courage and trust to adopt the life of refugees, willing to leave the comforts of home for places yet unknown. And to do this not just once, but time and again.

How, we may wonder, was the Holy Family able to do these extraordinary things? The gospel gives us an important clue in its inspiring description of how, no less than three times, Joseph receives instructions from God in a dream, and then, upon waking, follows those instructions to the letter. I’m not sure about you, my dear friends, but I tend to think that Joseph and Mary must surely have had dreams of their own. Their version of the five Cs perhaps. But what makes them models for us, is their willingness to allow God’s dreams to replace their own, in order to better receive and bear the light of God’s love and reconciliation into the darkness of our world.

All of which gives us a wider context in which to understand the particular behaviours that both the first and second readings invite family members to adopt toward one another. To obey and to respect one’s parents, even when they grow old. Never to drive one’s children to resentment. To give way to one’s husband in the Lord. To love and to treat one’s wife with gentleness… Just as there are ways to care for a candle to keep it burning bright, perhaps we can see these behaviours as different ways by which families can cultivate that awesome capacity that the Holy Family had. The capacity to let the message of Christ find a home in us. To dream God’s dreams, even when they may be contrary to our own.

And that’s not all. There is an even wider context to all this. One which we recognise by noticing how the second reading begins by addressing not so much many different families of blood, but the one family of faith. You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you… It is this one family, gathered by God in Christ, to whom is entrusted the responsibility of receiving and bearing Christ’s light in the world. So that, even if I happen to be single, without children of my own, or even if I may, for whatever reason, be estranged from my natural family, today’s feast is still significant for me. For we are all part of the one family of God. Called to receive and to bear Christ’s light into the darkness of our world.

In the words of that lovely song that we learnt as children…

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine…

Sisters and brothers, what will you do to care for your candle, so that it may shine ever more brightly today and everyday?