Listen to the homily here:
The most difficult part of the Christmas season this year was limiting our contacts with the family. Growing up I was blessed with wonderful parents, close family life and lots of contact with the extended family. Both parents came from large families, so Christmas as a child involved grandmothers, aunts, uncles, many cousins and lots of memories. I know for myself now, being a priest with no wife or children, I have always looked forward to special moments in the year where I can see the next generations, nephews, nieces, their children and of course my sisters. Since the days and weeks go by so fast it is always a joy to have some moments during holidays to just take some time and be family.
Covid has been a gut punch this year for family. It hurts not to be able to have the traditional large gatherings, with great food and time to catch up and just be family. It hurts not being able to go visit an elderly loved one in the nursing home and hold their hand or hug them with a kiss. It hurts that we have to forego seeing close friends during the holidays. It all just hurts. Of course, we are telling each other that if we make the sacrifices now, hopefully we will all be around next year to return again to traditions, friends and family time.
Faithful patience must be the theme of the Christmas season 2020 and into the New Year. Faithful, because even though there is much uncertainty and also some fear, God is always faithful to us and never abandons us. That is for sure, even as the whole situation we find ourselves in still hurts this year.
The gospel today speaks to us of the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple by his parents, Joseph and Mary. It is a powerful scene as two old people, Simeon and Anna, known mostly for their patient faithfulness to God, get a chance to see the salvation of the world almost at the very end of their lives. They are the models of Old Testament faith and waiting in God, many times not understanding what was going on but accepting and continuing on doing what they knew they needed to do to be faithful to their calling. Abraham in the first two readings is also a model for this kind of faithfulness. An old man, who had all but given up having his own child to pass on his inheritance, is finally rewarded by God with a son.
Simeon tells Mary she will still have many challenges to face including much sorrow with this child. So there is joy, yet woven throughout the story of family joy is challenge, struggle, uncertainty, fear, and ultimately acceptance of God’s will and faithfulness to His promises.
Isn’t this what is happening to you this year? In effect these stories all give us the taste of the lives of all families and a taste of this year’s pandemic living. Ultimately, Simeon and Anna do what we all need to do in front of the mystery of the Incarnation. They see, give praise and tell others. The elderly have much wisdom acquired from living to share with us. We need to take the time to appreciate, pay attention and learn.
Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. It celebrates relationships. Israel was in a covenant relationship with God. This demanded faithful patience since life was often very difficult. Love for each other flowed from the love of God. The first place where these relationships were to be lived was the family. Children were to respect their parents, and there was a special respect due to the elderly. Living in harmony with each other and in harmony with God’s creation were expected. We see in the gospel how Joseph and Mary took their responsibility seriously to care for the future of this child. Their clan, the extended family and close relations, was also responsible in different ways for the next generation. Everything they did was for the future of the larger family. They wanted to create a world where the future generations would flourish in right relationship with God, others and their environment. They were close to each other, their faith and the earth.
How many of us will be here with our families next Christmas? You can’t guarantee it. All we have is time, and usually less than we think. Family life is about dreams, dreams of the future for your children, dreams of a happy family, dreams of success, dreams of a better year, dreams of a future of love, family, hope, peace in the world. Dreaming is fine, but enabling dreams to happen with and for others is what life is all about and what ultimately satisfies most.
We cannot control the future completely. What we can do is continue in good times and in bad to have the patient faithfulness of Abraham, Simeon, & Anna, and the acceptance and faith of Mary and Joseph. All of these set the context for the coming of Jesus and for his message to the people of His time and to us.
Today think of how much you still need to do with and for your family. If you have accomplished some of your dreams in life tell someone else how you did it so they can know. If you lead your life the right way, in faithfulness to God, the dreams will come to you. Jesus was the best of all dreams to come true. It is up to us to make the Jesus dream come true for others as well. Our responsibility extends from our immediate family to the wider community. The Catholic Church teaches that the common good is what we all must work toward. We are all responsible for all. Faithful patience means we never give up trying to make things better and never give up sharing our experience of Jesus with others.
I was uplifted by reading recently about the US Postal Service program called Operation Santa, which is 108 years old. Letters from children to Santa are posted online and people can choose one to respond to and send gifts anonymously through the Post Office, in many cases giving to a child who might not get anything otherwise. 23,000 letters were received this year, often with many children asking for a cure for Covid or a job for a parent, along with the usual toys. The Service said they are overwhelmed this year with the generosity of donors. So far, all letters posted have been adopted. It takes a village to raise a child. What a powerful example of caring for the next generation and faith in action! A Christmas story of faith and love!
Today is a good day to ponder the future of our children, the next generation and the ones to come. What kind of world are we leaving to them? All parents have to sacrifice for their children. Maybe the lesson of the Holy Family, especially this year, is that we are all family and in a way all parents of the next generation. What example are we giving them? What kind of humans are we forming to live in and lead the world? What will we leave them of creation, the planet, our common home?
Last week we were thinking of how small this earth is and how critical it is that we have to figure out how to live in it together. All of us have to sacrifice, especially in the midst of a pandemic, so that we and others will have what is needed to live in dignity as children of one Father God.
Today we look at three old people, Abraham, Simeon and Anna, faithful to their God to the end, always living their lives in the hope that God is present and God will respond. Look around. There are other Abrahams, Simeons, and Annas in our midst. What a blessing, example and inspiration they are in living a faithful patience in action. They have much to teach and we have much to learn!
Fr. David Garcia is a retired priest from the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas, where he served for 44 years. During that time, Fr. Garcia was instrumental in the effort to have the Old Spanish Missions recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also oversaw the multimillion-dollar restoration of San Fernando Cathedral. Fr. David served as pastor for several parishes in San Antonio, including the historic Mission Concepción. He also served as Senior Advisor for Clergy Outreach at Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian and relief agency of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.