Give Me Only Your Love and Your Grace that is Enough for Me
Deacon Angelo Volpi’s homily
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Col 3:12-21; Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
Image credit: https://lesmiller.ca/2025/03/19/st-joseph-in-art/
ME
Good evening! And Merry Christmas!
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
I have been praying for a couple of weeks about this homily - and the question that came up was “What makes the Holy family holy?” Or rephrasing in another way - what would it be like to come to know how Mary and Joseph faced life - the things they said to each other, their reactions and feelings to those life-changing decisions that they kept facing.
I think Saint Paul in the second reading summarized well what made Mary and Joseph holy - they “Let the peace of Christ control their heart.”
In a way the Gospel shows us the virtues of a Holy Family and the second reading of Saint Paul gives us insights on how to help our family become Holy.
The nativity that we have here in front of the altar and maybe in your home may lead us to believe that the Holy Family lived a life without stress, suffering, hardships. That is not the case. Their life was full of hardships, very difficult decisions, they suffered shame, and experienced the difficulties of being immigrants in Egypt where they did not know anyone, nor the language, nor did they have a house or a job to sustain their family.
YOU
Do you think they had peace in their hearts?
How do you imagine peace in your life when you talk to families and friends?
Is your idea of peace the absence of problems and hardship?
The peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding is not free of sufferings. It is a peace that comes from a true conviction that God will accompany us always - no matter what is happening to us. It is a peace that accepts suffering as part of our spiritual journey, but refuses to lose hope and be controlled by anxiety. It is a peace rooted in an act of the will to be thankful for all God has given us.
This is the peace that the Holy Family had - and this is the peace that we seek for our families.
In a few minutes we will exchange the sign of peace. When you hear the invitation “Let us offer each other the sign of peace.”- what peace do you wish when you say “Peace be with you,” to your wife, kids, grandkids or people close to you in the pews?
GOD
Today’s Gospel reveals the profound hardships Mary and Joseph endured as they faithfully followed God’s will, from Mary’s fiat at the Annunciation to the flight into Egypt and beyond. They embraced all these trials with unwavering trust, knowing that they would risk their lives, reputation, and security.
Think about all the trails they faced in just a few years. First, Mary said yes to the Angel Gabriel, conceiving Jesus by the Holy Spirit despite risking her life under Jewish law for presumed adultery, the shame to her family, and uncertainty about Joseph’s acceptance. Then Joseph welcomed Mary as his wife, knowing that he would receive public scorn for raising a child that was not his own. This is even harder to do in Nazareth, a tiny village of just a couple hundred people, where everyone knew everything about each other.
Not long after that, they journeyed 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem—about seven days on foot—with Mary nine months pregnant. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown, close family, cousins and uncles were probaly there but no relative or even the innkeeper offered shelter; Jesus was born in a stable, like a modern garage. Mary didn't have any support from her mother, friends, or midwives to assist.
After one to two years in Bethlehem, the Magi’s visit brought an unexpected awe and joy —they came to worship Jesus as King of the Jews, offering gold, frankincense, and myrrh as symbols of his kingship, divinity, and future suffering. But life brought them more uncertainties and instability when an angel warned Joseph in a dream,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him” (Mt 2:13).
Herod, fearing to lose his place as king by Jesus, slaughtered all boys under two in Bethlehem. And so. Joseph shared the message with Mary, and they departed by night on a grueling 400-mile trek—over a month on foot—through deserts and dangers, with the infant Jesus, who was probably 1 or 2 years old. They entered a foreign land where they knew no one and didn’t speak the language. A couple of years later, after Herod’s death, the angel instructed Joseph to return to Israel, but warned of Archelaus in Judea; they trekked another 400 miles back to Nazareth, with Jesus now a toddler of three or four years.
What peace of heart and mind does it take to hear God’s voice when life hit you like in Mary and Joseph?
What depth of faith, hope, and trust is needed to be like the Holy Family?
Mary and Joseph show us Christian peace: not rooted in securities, certainties, or riches, but in the serene assurance of doing God’s will. They are the embodiment of the Suscipe prayer from St. Ignatius:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will, all I have and call my own. […]
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
YOU
How can me and you live our family life like Mary and Joseph? Where do we start?
St. Paul in the second reading tells us that we can get there but it will require work on our side.
He asked us to” put love above all”; “to be thankful”; “to develop gratitude in our heart”; “to give thanks”. To “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly”. Through that we will invite the peace of Christ in our heart that surpasses all understanding like in Mary and in Joseph.
This is much more than praying before meals and attending mass.
St. Paul empathized many times seeking gratitude in his letter because sin is not breaking of the laws, as much as it is lack of gratitude.
Practicing gratitude helps us find God in all things and transform the way we face life.
WE
We are blessed here at Christ the King, in addition to our pastor, we have two priests, eleven deacons, spiritual directors and many people of faith that can accompany us in our journey to become more like Mary and Joseph. Ask the Lord to show you who that person could be for you.
If you experience a desire in your heart to deepen your relationship with God, my invitation to you is to fins a spiritual companion to journey with.
May Peace be with you!
