In the fullness of time, God intervened in these crises that were afflicting the human family by sending His only son, Jesus to be born into the Holy Family of Nazareth. By being born into a human family, Jesus demonstrated God’s endorsement of the family with the desires to show that in spite of the human failures and all the problems that arise in families, it is still a place in which life and love should thrive. Jesus Himself was not immune to family issues and problems that can arise. He was born into a family that was of little means, (at His presentation in the Temple, it was the offering of the poor that the parents could offer); He soon had to flee with His parents to Egypt, a foreign land as a fugitive, running away from the fury of Herod. As happens in families, Mary and Joseph were very anxious at the prospect of having lost their child when He went missing at the age of twelve in Jerusalem. My dear friends, we see Jesus paying a lot of attention to the family in His ministry and He did not fail to help families with their problems.
He visited the home of Peter, whose mother-inlaw was ill (may He visit all our families also and heal all sicknesses, however chronic or serious or beyond hope they may be); when He heard of the death in the families of Jairus, the official and of Lazarus, Jesus showed sympathy, visited and brought consolation (may the Lord Jesus visit all homes where they are experiencing the pains of the death of their loved one); Jesus paid attention to the desperate wailing of the widow of Nain for her dead son, and heeded the plea of the father with the epileptic son. (May He not turn a deaf ear to your cries and concern over the health and well being of your children); Jesus visited the homes of the tax collectors, like Matthew and Zacchaeus to show that in spite of their moral failures, He had not lost hope in their redemption and a change of life. Jesus knows the anxieties and tensions that families experience and so He reflects them in His parables.
• Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos.
