It gives me immense joy and delights my heart to speak about the Holy Family under whose patronage I grew up and now feels good to be an SFN, a member belonging to the Congregations of the Sisters of Holy Family of Nazareth (SFN). The Holy Family Sisters from Sancoale, have their roots way back in 1933, when the Founder, Fr Faustino De Souza, sent the candidates to Mangalore for formation to be trained under the Bethany Congregation formation house and were vested as nuns on 16th June 1935 at Sancoale in the Oratory of St Joseph Vaz, under the patronage of Sacrad Familia Nazareth, who now are spread across the country in service of God through the different apostolates – pastoral, mission, social, youth, orphanages, prison ministry, differently abled, social communications, education, aged homes, etc.
As we celebrate The Feast of Holy Family, there are many things which we can emulate and live in our day-to-day life. The Holy Family is a model and guide of/ to every family. Each of us is part of a family, belongs to a family and grows in a family rubbing our shoulders to each other and continues to live with our extended families. Well, the Holy Family of Nazareth is a perfect example and model of faithfulness, love, forgiveness, etc.
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They were devoted to God and to his call in their lives. And remained faithful to their God given vocation. The faithfulness of Mary is utter speechless. It cannot be expressed in words. One just cannot understand, what and How Mary could remain faithful to God even in embarrassing situations. Throughout her life, Mary continued to model faithfulness as she tended to her home, cared for and raised Jesus, and ultimately surrendered her will to God’s as she watched Jesus suffer and die.
The faithfulness of Joseph is extraordinary. To accept a young maiden with child when they were stringent laws to stone to death. Further, in times of the ordeal they faced before and after the birth of Jesus. He protected them from those who wanted to hurt them and he provided for them through his occupation as a humble and hardworking carpenter.
Jesus’ faithfulness to his heavenly Father was unwavering. Throughout his ministry, he was criticised, judged, and ridiculed and eventually put to death. But, because of his faithfulness, we are able to share in eternal life with him.
Love for God was the cornerstone of the Holy Family. Their love for the Father and their desire to be faithful to him and to please him in all things was what also strengthened their love for each other.
Out of love also came the virtues of obedience and acceptance. They accepted God’s unique, individual plan for each of their lives and were obedient to His call. Mary accepted God’s plan to be the mother of Jesus. Joseph accepted taking Mary into his home and was obedient to being the foster father of God’s son. Jesus accepted the will of his Father which was often a difficult road to follow but one he followed in obedience.
The message that the Holy Family displays is that holiness does not exclude us from discomfort and suffering. God will not spare us the aches and pains of life even if we are children in his larger Holy Family. He doesn’t spare us from these not because he isn’t merciful, but because he uses these in a larger plan that we mere mortals may fail to comprehend.
The Holy Family also models forgiveness. And forgiveness leads to love. In fact, Jesus was the prime model for forgiveness as part of the Holy Family.
In today’s families, the right understanding of forgiveness needs to be understood. The word expressed as ‘sorry’ loses its meaning and importance, if every time one does the same mistakes just because they are elders or children and the others need to obey and give due respect. The rule for the virtue of forgiveness for all is the same. Do not repeat the same over and over again. There is someone watching you from above. The Holy Family never was part of this sin.
At a time when the family becomes weakened, when we see marriages crumbling down like pack of cards, we need to have recourse to the Holy Family. Pope Leo XIII said that imitation of the Holy Family would be a means to revitalise and strengthen family life. Perhaps, now is the time for us to knock on the door of the Holy Family’s home in Nazareth from them we will learn many virtues for Christian family life and, through their inspiration, to practice them in our homes and among our own families.
We Goans have a rich culture and upbringing. God fearing and devotion filled people. Today’s family life is becoming lifeless, Godless and virtue less in spite of so many devotions. Yes, the modern ‘wafer generation’ can no longer sustain stress. Because there’s no God in their life. Night life has increased and no remorse of unattended sacraments – the Sunday Eucharist, Sacrament of Reconciliation or confessions, etc. Love for God is replaced by digital life. And so, the need…
As a family let’s Pray together and draw each other closer to Christ. And, what better way to do so than through prayer, Reading The Word of God? For instance, when we go to church each week to worship God and pray, we are modelling the example of the Holy Family. Likewise, sharing a family meal together and saying grace before eating is modelling the virtues of faithfulness of the Holy Family. And praying before bedtime and giving thanks for our blessings are examples too.
Recently, when we had the SIGNIS India National Assembly, there was no internet connectivity and delegates had to accept the reality. As someone rightly said, as communicators, here is a situation and opportunity, to communicate in person, speaking from the heart the truth in love and spend time together.
Therefore, Be Present in Communication – The Holy Family certainly didn’t have as many distractions when it comes to communicating as we do today. It’s ironic that the very devices we use to communicate, such as cell phones, computers, and tablets, actually get in the way of us being present in our communication to one another. To emulate the Holy Family’s means of communicating, we can take simple steps like looking each other in the eye when we speak; Putting aside our cell phones or an activity when someone is talking to us; And, basically just listen. To emphasise this point, on the Feast of the Holy Family, Pope Francis had challenged all families to put their cell phones away during family meal time encouraging us to communicate just like the Holy Family did.
May we always have God at the center of our hearts and homes until we are all one family, happy and at peace!
