Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (B) – December 31, 2023

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3; Psalm 105:1-1-6, 8-9; Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19; Luke 2:22-40

[Video coming soon]

2023 Top 3

As the year come to a close, this is the time we start looking forward to a new year. But one of the things you should do as you get to the end of the year is take a moment to reflect back on it. And I want you to start thinking and reflecting on a simple question. As you look back over the year, as you remember all the many things you did, ask, think: Where did you experience the most joy? Think about that. Where, when did I experience the most joy?

While you think about that, I want to share the top three movies I watched this year. And the reason I want to share these is: 1) they’re really good movies, and if nothing else you can go watch some quality movies; but 2) these movies really help us to understand our experience, they help us to understand this feast of the Holy Family, and they help us to put the past year into perspective and look forward to the New Year with greater clarity.

The first of my Top 3 is It’s a Wonderful Life. I think I watch this one every Christmas. It’s a Wonderful Life is about a man named George Bailey. In his youth, George has all of these big dreams of leaving his small town on adventure, traveling the world, becoming an architect. But the Great Depression hits, and in order to help others in his community he stays home to run the family Building and Loan. And even though he’s a local hero and does amazing things to help his community, George grows to resent the sacrifices he’s made and everything that has kept him trapped in this small town. And in his resentment and depression, he decides that everyone would just be better off if he had never been born. But that is, of course, when his guardian angel, Clarence, appears and shows him what life would be like if he had never been born. One by one, person by person, Clarence shows George all the lives he’s touched, all the relationships—what the world would be like without him. And realizing just how “wonderful” his “life” really is (get it?), George gladly and gratefully goes back. And Clarence writes him a note, kind of as the moral of it all: “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”

The second of my Top 3 is A Man for All Seasons. I don’t know if many of you are familiar with this one. It’s a historical drama about the life of St. Thomas More. Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII, at the time when England broke away from the Catholic Church, formed the Church of England. In the movie, there is a striking relationship between the character of Thomas More and a young man, Richard Rich. Richard is trying to get ahead in life, desperately trying to ride More’s coattails into the English court and politics. But More, seeing right through him, seeing that the life of the court and all of its trappings and temptations would ruin this young man—in a powerful scene, More tells Richard that he should be a teacher. And when Richard refuses, More doubles down and says, “Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher. Perhaps a great one.” And that’s when Richard reveals his real issue with being a teacher. He says, “If I was, who would know it?” And More tells him, “You. Your pupils. Your friends. God. Not a bad public, that. And a quiet life.” But of course Richard refuses. As the movie progresses, More is eventually brought up on charges of treason for not going along with the plans of Henry VIII. And it is Richard who comes forward to give the testimony that will convict More—false testimony, given in exchange for what Richard was after all along: a position in the court of the king, as attorney general of Wales. And in a heartbreaking exchange, Thomas confronts him saying, “Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?” Richard lost his soul, not for the whole world, but for a grasp at power.

The third of my Top 3 is a movie called A Hidden Life, the story of the Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter. I’ve told you about this film before. True story! But we’ll get back to Franz.

The Source of Joy: World travels or a hidden life?

Ok. Why do I bring these up? Because of that question: Where did you experience the most joy? Think about that. Where, when did I experience the most joy? 

This passed year I was all over the place. Literally. This past year I was able to go to the Holy Land on pilgrimage, Florida for my retreat, California for my brother’s wedding, Arizona for a conference, Texas with our youth—I traveled the world! And fun as it was to travel, to see different places—here’s the thing: all of these trips were not the source of my joy. In the Holy Land, it was spending the time with the friends I went with. In Florida, it was the priests I was on retreat with with. In California, it was being with all of my family. In Arizona it was spending time with the people. In Texas, it was spending time with our youth. And more than any of those, my most intense moments of joy were here in this church, the parish hall, your homes.

What I recognized in reflecting on my year—whether I was half-way across the world, or here in a small town in the middle of Kansas—the place I experienced the most joy was simply with the people God gave to me, in the relationships given to me through my vocation. Here, in this vocation, in this small, peripheral parish in the middle of Kansas—here, in this life hidden away from “the world”—here, I have found joy.

Franz and Abraham

Ok. So that third movie, A Hidden Life—in that movie, Franz has everything he ever dreamed of there in his little village. He farms, he takes care of his family, he goes to daily Mass. He has a Wonderful Life. He has everything! But it is at that moment that Franz’s time comes. Drafted into the Third Reich, he refuses to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. And he is put on trial for treason. In one of the most powerful scenes, the judge pulls him into chambers and asks him, “Why are you doing this? Throwing your life away? No one will remember you for dying for this. It’s a waste. Just swear the oath and you’re free.” And that’s when Franz tells him, “But I am free.” Franz sought the hidden life, life with his family, life in his small community, life with God—and from there God called him to something heroic: to leave behind everything (and he had everything!) and to embrace a divine mission. The mission of laying down his life.

This is what we saw in all of our readings—our readings about Abraham focus our attention on that. Abraham was a wealthy man, living in a small, peripheral town in the middle of nowhere called Ur with his wife and extended family and servants. He had everything! And even though he was old, drawing to the end of his life, that is precisely when God called him to leave behind everything and to embrace a divine mission.

The Holy Family

So what does any of this have to do with the Holy Family? I’ll tell you. The prayers for the Mass tell us over and over to do one thing: to imitate, to imitate the Holy Family. What does it mean to imitate the Holy Family? Well, I think John Paul II said it best. He said that the Holy Family, there in Nazareth, spent long years in a hidden life (Familiaris Consortio 86). The Holy Family lived in anonymity and silence, in a little, peripheral town of Palestine, itself a peripheral colony of Rome. In its hidden life, the Holy Family faced challenges: poverty, persecution and exile. But at the end of the day, it glorified God, rooted itself in God’s grace. And there, in that family, in that hidden life at Nazareth, Jesus was prepared for his divine mission: to lay down his life.

Your family life, hidden, anonymous, silent, facing challenges, established in God’s grace—this is what we should delight in imitating. John Paul II said, “The future of the world and the Church passes though” what? Politics? Presidential elections? Wars? Popes? Nope. “The future of the world and the Church passes though…the family.”

I think our New Year’s resolution should be to make every sacrifice necessary to establish our families in God’s grace. A family should be a place where children are grounded in this relationship with God, firmly planted in his grace. Why? So that they are prepared to respond to God’s call in their life, the vocation God has for them. That’s the number one job of a family.

I’ve told you before, my family is far, far from perfect, but our parents did always encouraged us to pursue God’s call in our life. When we were saying we wanted to be rich and famous, doctors and lawyers and CEO’s, my parents would respond, “But what does God want for you in your life?” I remember my mom actually asked me, “Have you ever thought about being a teacher?” And I responded about the same as ol’ Richard Rich. Ha! But over and over, day after day, our parents did this by establishing our family firmly in God’s grace. How? Through Mass every Sunday, through daily Mass, praying the Rosary as a family daily, going to Confession regularly (my dad went once a week since I was a kid). Simple things, but the most important thing: remaining rooted, established in God’s grace. And when the moment came, I heard God’s call. My siblings have heard God’s call: marriage, priesthood, religious life. That’s the family’s job.

So do you see my point? My point is this: watch more good movies. No. My point is this. These films help us to understand our experience: deep down we know that our life matters, that it matters if we have lived, even if it’s not how we planned it; deep down we know that we could sell our soul to get everything we think we want, but we would end up more miserable than when we started; deep down we know that the key to joy in life is God and His plans.

My point is this. These films help us to understand this feast of the Holy Family: that this joy and happiness and peace we’re looking for comes from imitating their life; a hidden life, in a small town, facing the challenges of life, but glorifying God, establishing our life in God’s grace.

My point is this. These films help us to put the past year into perspective and look forward to the New Year with greater clarity: maybe this past year wasn’t everything it could have been because I focused on the wrong things; maybe I made sacrifices for the wrong things; maybe in this coming year I will make every sacrifice necessary, first and foremost, to establish my family in God’s grace, through the Mass and the Eucharist, through regular Confession, through prioritizing my prayer and praying together as a family. 

Why? Because then, in faith—with the same faith as Abraham and Franz and all of the saints—we will be ready to respond to the Lord whenever he calls us.