Celebrate in our society. There are at least two reasons that make the celebration difficult. One is that the family isn't what it used to be. It is constantly changing, and it is changing more, as we know from our last election. And it has been changing for the last decade and many years probably before. Rather than the families living with a number of generations under the same roof, it is rare that more than two generations, parents and children, live under the same household. It used to be that lots of families would cluster around the same area or neighborhood, and that is not so prevalent today. Many persons' jobs require them to move to different locales, and many families today find themselves living far away from their relatives. Many families feel the isolation that may result from being away from their roots.

Another reason is that some values in our complex society seem to mitigate against husband and wife staying together. What we thought made up the family years ago -- father, mother and children -- is no longer clear today, coupled with a view that in some kind of disharmony with the culture of the Bible. Both the readings of Sirach and the readings from the Colossians give attention to a family structure that can be called hierarchical. The father was head of the household,  and there was no challenging his authority. Mother assisted him and upheld his policies. Today's model, at least in some families, is more based upon the mutual responsibility for the family carried out by both parents.

Part of the second reading can raise some hackles. Part of the first reading may not be particularly pleasing to adolescents. The author of the letter to the Colossians takes prevalent cultural views and tries to make them Christian. Today we might say the same thing. We might say wives and husbands be mutually submissive to one another, that is your duty in the Lord. So if cooperation and mutual responsibility are values, there's no reason that we cannot patronize them. After all, mutual service and obedience is a great value in the Gospel. Just look at John 13, Verses 1 to 13 in the foot washing and how the apostles are admonished to serve one another, to care for one another, and how when we leave the Eucharist at the very end before Father gives the final blessing, he says, The Mass is over, the liturgy's over, go now to love and serve the Lord.

In service to the Lord, it is serving one another, it is serving is the wider community. For we are the larger church, whereas mom and dad the Church calls the little church. Your home, or your apartment, whatever abode where you reside, mom and dad are the ministers of that little church. Mom and dad are the ministers and teachers of the Christian faith. Not  Father, not Sister, not Brother, not our catechists here at Christ the King, but mom and dad. When you baptized your children, you promised to raise them, and to rear them and to teach them the faith, the Christian faith, and particularly the Catholic religion, about our doctrines and our liturgies and various things, but the Christian faith, a belief in Jesus Christ. That's what you undertook when you asked to have your children baptized.

As Fr. Dibble said, this is a guidebook we hear today about our families and relationships, a handy book that you can take home and read it. I have heard in the readings already now for almost five times today, and every time I hear them, there's something new I hear about how we are to treat one another, how we are to act towards one another.

And I think it is very incumbent upon us as Christians coming here to the Eucharist, week in and week out, and we say once again, I'm coming to the larger church to hear what I have been teaching to my children, confirm, and if not confirm, then to ask more questions about how it can be done better, service to God. How can I be more forgiving? How can I be more gentle with one another and my children and they with me? How can I be more giving of myself? If I'm selfish with my time and my talent, how can I be more open to the service of my family and the wider family here at Christ the King? 

The Holy Family that we celebrate is a given. We celebrate Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the Holy Family. But we also celebrate our family here in the parish, for we too are family and we too are holy. And we are holy because of the actions we do. As the introduction to the reading said, how do they know what Christian is different? How do they know the Christian man, woman, child and young adult is different? What makes them different in this world, this wider world out there?

Well, any parish worth its identity as a follower of Christ, any parish worth being supported is a parish that always uses its resources, be them material and financial or talent-wise. You're the resources also, all of us the resources. How do they help those who are in need? What is the outreach to those who have less? What programs do they have that you can see and say, Well, look, they have St. Vincent de Paul that helps the poor, as Fr. Brian mentioned over the holidays, and the great amount of resources you have given to continue that most precious work; the outreach to the emancipated youth that we had last week, a couple weeks ago; our support to Monument Crisis Center that gives out food; and many, many, many more.

Not only is it the helping with the poor, but also the intellectual and also the study of the Bible and Scriptures. That is a parish family that you look at and say, Yes, I see  the holiness there. Because the holiness is not wrapped up in I'm sinless or I'm one of those persons who never does anything wrong. For none of us would be in that category at all. It's just the good works you do in Christ's name without any inkling of reward, but you do it out of your pure love of Christ.

As that reading says from Colossians, put on God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, the kindness, the humility, the gentleness, the patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If one has a grievance against another, as the Lord as forgiven you, so must you also do. So must. Not might. Not if you want to. But must do. And over all of these put on love. That is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts.

So it truly is that reading from Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 12 to 21, if you wanted to read these at home to your family. It truly is a workbook, a guidebook of how we are to relate to one another in the family, and in our larger family here at Christ the King, and in our larger family in our workplace and out there in the world. So that others might recognize and say, Well, look, those Christians do have something special. They don't have any secret handshakes or secret words. They don't have any arrogance that I'm saved and you're not saved. They don't believe because I'm baptized  and you're not baptized you're not going to go to heaven. No, not in that way. But in the way they are holy because they do use what they have, their resources and whatever we might have to help those and lift up the spirits of anybody and everybody. To me, that is what the Holy Family means. For us to be a holy family and to do, of course, what Christ has called us to.

And so we try to eliminate or we try to curtail, at least, minimal the nagging, and the frustrations, and the difficulties, and the sore spots or any kind of everyday problems that we might have. We try to minimize those. But they will always be there, because when you have two people together, you're always going to have some kind of argument, whether you like it or not. So we try to minimize those because we are followers of Christ.

It seems that families are a reflection of the family of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So in celebrating this feast, we celebrate what God is like toward us. If we look at the feast like this, the Holy Family is an image of what God is like: Wonderfully nurturing, but not smothering; splendidly caring, but not possessive; remarkably loving and committed, it's not stuck on us that our basic freedom is impaired. Because we are images of God, this feast proclaims that we too can bring out the best in each other. And that is the Holy Family. 

And I'd like to leave you with the final prayer which I love very much for this Eucharist. We want to live as Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in peace with you and one another. And may the communion that you are about to receive at this Mass strengthen us to face the troubles of life. May that communion strengthen both you and me to face truly any of our troubles in the upcoming year. cml