Solemnity of the Holy Family | Sunday Reflection

With Christmas but a couple of days in our memories, I suspect more than a few of us — especially those with children — gave or received a gift this year that came with the dreaded three words: “Some Assembly Required.” Even the handiest among us tremble when those three words stare us in the face. Whether it is a bicycle, a swing set, the wonderful audio system you have wanted for years, or even a piece of furniture you bought as a surprise, those three words threaten us — even perhaps causing our pliers to tremble and our screwdrivers to shake. I remember my father once telling me that, if he had known the swing set me and my siblings had wanted as kids was to come boxed as tubular steel with dozens of bags bulging with nuts and bolts, he would have given in and bought us a puppy instead!

All of us who have lived through the assembly of things mechanical or tubular or engineered, can take great comfort in this weekend’s scripture readings from Matthew’s gospel and the letter to the Colossians. We find in these scripture verses a reminder that the gift of God in Christ comes to you and me with ‘some assembly required.'

Blessed Joseph gives every one of us hope. There he is, basking in the glory of kings who have visited his infant Son, and giving the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But, no sooner have the magi begun their long trip home, Joseph finds himself dreaming of Herod’s plot to kill the Christ Child in his crib! What does he do? Joseph quickly awakens Mary, bundles up the Child, and flees with them by night from the familiar land of Israel to strange and distant Egypt. Little did Joseph know that when the angel first announced the birth of the Christ child, ‘some assembly would be required’ to protect our Lord from a murderous madman. The tiny Babe, cooing in his mother’s arms, would demand such heroic and costly protection. But that is what happens when angel dust falls on our hearts and we say “Yes” to God’s gift.

Now jump to some 60 years later and discover the infant Church struggling to breathe-in the noxious air of first century hostility. Paul, writing to the Colossians, reminds his Christian friends that ‘some assembly is required’ when we say “Yes” to follow Jesus. Being Christian is hard enough, but being Christian with other Christians is work. “As God’s chosen ones,” Paul writes, “holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” And if that were not enough, he continues on, “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all,” Paul insists, “clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

What is St. Paul saying? In three words, he is saying to all who would live as Christians, there is “some assembly required.” If the likes of you and me are going to follow Jesus with any measure of faithfulness, we will have to embrace the hard work of forgiveness, clothing ourselves with that rare and uncommon gift of Christ’s love. If given the choice, we would more likely choose instead Christmas carols, candy, presents, and parties. Festivity is always easier than forgiveness. Who among us would not readily take the gold, frankincense, and myrrh and be done with it? But such grasping self-indulgence has little to do with the work to which our Lord calls us.

We find ourselves a few days into the Christmas season. Presents have been opened (some even returned or exchanged); the tree in the living room already looks a bit long in the tooth; the old year is slipping away and a new year winking at us. Christmas has come and now gone and, once again, we ask: What in God’s Name does it all mean? Is it really asking too much to have warm and nostalgic Christmas experiences and then be left alone?

If we would dare ask St. Joseph those questions, he would tell us that all his neat and tidy plans for his young wife and the infant Christ went flying out the window on angel’s wings about as fast as they flew in. Joseph would tell us that taking up God’s work is like sawing wood and cobbling together tables and chairs with the most basic set of tools. Things simply do not go as planned, they take longer than expected, and they always require a measure of uncommon dedication. In other words: “Some assembly required.”

Where does this leave you and me? For one thing, it leaves us facing the fact that Christmas is God’s gift that brings with it a demand. Yes, God’s gift is the Christ child. And yes, God’s gift of Jesus is ours through simple faith. But this precious gift is also a vulnerable, needy gift. We who follow our Lord Jesus Christ have a responsibility, a duty, to protect all who, like the infant Christ, are vulnerable, needy, or at risk.

So, where does it leave us? Frankly, it leaves us “out there” with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus trusting God when there is no one else we believe we can trust. There, in the night of our uncertainty, we learn that God is still putting us together, piece by piece, to become individuals and a people clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love. When all is said and done, the assembly required to put us together is God’s work of grace.

As we observe this solemnity of the Holy Family, let us be God’s holy family. Be the gift of Christmas both now and in the New Year ahead to which God awakens us, full of unimagined joy. Is there ‘some assembly required’? Yes, some assembly, indeed!