Right on the heels of celebrating the Birth of the Savior, we celebrate him getting right to work in the labor of our salvation.  And he does so, he begins his work of human redemption, from within the context of a simple, ordinary family.  And what he does over the course of his upbringing and his childhood, and the first several years of his adult life: these are sacred and important years that we must not forget.  Understandably, Sacred Scripture and the Church’s imagination focus upon those three years of public ministry beginning at his age of 30, culminating in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  But the significance of these three years must never cause us to forget the other 30.  And that begins with his life with his mother and his foster father.  And we see our attention being drawn to the Lord already, even as a little baby, by the great prophets Simeon and Anna, who, we are told, had been awaiting the salvation of Israel, and who see it, clearly, in this child.  Simeon prays: “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.  Let thy servant go in peace.  My work here is done.”  

The Lord’s mission, our salvation, starts now, even in his infancy. And it starts in the family.  The first place that Our Lord made holy with his presence was a home.  His home.  And he wants to continue to make the home a special place of his blessing even today.  I think he wants to do that in two ways.  First, Our Lord continues to maintain a home on this earth.  Right here.  In God’s House.  The Holy House of Nazareth is, in a very real sense, re-made in the church building itself, where Christ continues to dwell in a real and substantial way, especially in the tabernacle.  And it’s no accident that in almost every church in Christendom, including our own, the three main points of focus at the front of the church, in the sight of all, are Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  When we are here, we are guests in the living room of the Holy Family.  And in fact not even guests.  Because we too are adopted sons and daughters of God.  So the Holy House of Nazareth is in fact our home as well.  For our brother Jesus Christ, wants his mother to be our mother.  And he wants his foster father to be our adoptive father as well.  And he wants his family life to influence, guide, and shape the family life that each one of us experiences in our own situation. 

And I think that’s the second way he wants the home to continue to be a place of blessing.  The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph provides the perfect example for each and every Christian family home.  Pope St. Paul VI preached a homily in Nazareth in 1964 in which he said: “Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand Jesus’ life: it is the school where we begin to get to know his Gospel.  Here we learn to observe, to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the mysterious depths of this simple, humble, and charming manifestation of the Son of God among men.  Here we learn too, perhaps without realizing it, to imitate that life.”  And what do we learn?  We don’t actually know much about those hidden 30 years; and that’s important too.  It shows the value of silence and humility.  We don’t actually know an awful lot about Mary and Joseph, the details of their life together.  But we know everything we need to know.  They were true parents, they were truly loving to each other despite living in a very unusual kind of marriage.  And the three of them did exactly what God the Father asked of them in their individual, unique, and often difficult vocations.  They were hidden and quiet.  They remind us again and again, that true love and true joy are almost always very quiet things, found in selflessness and in sacrifice.  And this truly matters.  Human society rises and falls with the family.  And every single family is important.  So please know, as you live your daily lives, as you quietly go about your business, in your family and in the world, your simple faithfulness, trying to live a good and virtuous life, your patience and perseverance in your struggles, these things make a difference, for yourself and also for others.  The high tide raises all ships, and we each have a part to play.  So, as you persevere through your years of family and professional life, just as Christ did, may there truly be two homes where the Holy Family dwells with you: may you have a home right here in the presence of Christ in the House of God, where Joseph and Mary are surely always with us as well; and may the Holy Family be a real presence in each of your own individual homes as well, where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph guide and assist you in living lives of virtue, simplicity, and holiness all your days.