In ancient Israel, after giving birth women were required to wait for a specified amount of time before they could appear in the Temple or participate in any religious rituals. Once the time had elapsed, they rejoined community worship by offering two sacrifices. This is what Mary and Joseph were doing in today's Gospel passage.
This requirement of ancient Jewish law reflects the sacred value that God's people have always put upon human life. When a woman gave birth, she was partaking intimately of a mystery that touched God directly, since he alone was the creator and sustainer of every human life. So it was appropriate that she abstain from normal activities immediately afterwards, just as Moses used to wear a veil after his meetings with God.
One of the details of this passage show us something very interesting about this little family, the Holy Family, of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. For her sacrifice, Mary offers two pigeons instead of the usual combination of a lamb and a pigeon. A stipulation of the Jewish law allowed this for those families too poor to afford a lamb. So, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Lord of the universe, not only became man on Christmas, but he became a member of a normal, humble, working class family, a family that had to worry about making ends meet. Mary, Queen of heaven and earth, lived her incomparably holy life as wife and mother on a very small budget. Joseph, patron of the universal Church and greatest of all Patriarchs, worked hard just to keep bread on the table. They didn't have a big bank account, an impressive investment portfolio, fancy vacations, or expensive hobbies. They had to keep track of every penny, and yet, they were the richest family in history. Their wealth wasn't in money, it was in faith.
Jon Carlton is an average Catholic man who came to understand this truth as a result of the financial difficulties that many of us have been facing over recent months. He was hit hard: forty percent of all he's worked for and built up in his insurance firm disappeared overnight. The savings for his children's college education has also dwindled, and his 401k retirement plan was no longer even worth looking at. Three of his closest friends found themselves in the same boat. Before the credit crunch, when business was good, these four friends had planned a pilgrimage to Rome. In the face of economic strain, they had to decide if a pilgrimage was really worth it. When they looked at their bank accounts, they thought it wasn't; but when they looked at their hearts, they knew it was.
So they spent a week visiting Rome's basilicas and catacombs, attending a papal audience, and touring the priceless collections of the Vatican Museums. At every stop, they found themselves deeply moved by the thought that behind everything they saw was the deep, ancient faith of patrons, priests, artists, bricklayers and stone masons who had given their time, talent, and treasure for the glory of God.
For Jon, the spiritual highlight of the trip was found in one of Eternal City's humblest attractions: the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa). These are the marble steps of Pontius Pilate's presidium, where he passed judgment on Christ. St Helen had shipped them from Jerusalem in the fourth century, reconstructing them in a small sanctuary in Rome. For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have visited this site by climbing the stairs on their knees as they pray the Way of the Cross.
"It was when I was climbing those steps on my knees," Jon said, "that I realized there's so much more to life. There's Someone who accompanies us." And that's the point.
Whether we are experiencing the weight of the Cross or a whiff of heaven, what matters is the faith in Christ that gives meaning and purpose to everything we do. Material prosperity and hardship come and go; the love of Christ is stable.
Money is useful for life, but it is not meant to be the main ingredient of life – and the example of the Holy Family reminds us of that. Without faith, it is possible to have a lot of money and still be thoroughly miserable, like King Herod. With faith, it is possible to have very little money, and yet to live a thoroughly meaningful and joyful life, as the Holy Family did.
There are three things we can do to keep faith primary and money secondary.
First, we can use a budget. Budgets help us prioritize our material needs, either as individuals or as families. They help us get out of unhealthy debt and use our money wisely, according to real, objective priorities, not just momentary cravings. If you would like some help learning to make and use a budget, we are going to be offering a Bible study after the New Year that will look at Biblical principles for managing your money. If you are interested, keep looking for details in the parish bulletin, or contact Rich Scanlon, our Director of Faith Formation.
Second, we can make sure that we regularly eat meals together as a family. This helps us turn a material need into a spiritual reality, which helps us in turn to avoid becoming obsessed with material things. We can imagine what family meals were like for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus: a time for relaxation and conversation, a time to build relationships, a time to learn from each other and to get know each other. The modern world wants to take that away. If we let it do so, just think how much our lives and our society will be impoverished!
Third, we can renew our commitment to spending at least ten minutes a day in personal prayer, reflecting on the Bible and speaking heart to heart with Christ. This is how we protect our faith and make it grow, and that's what really matters, because, as the Church is reminding us today, true, lasting wealth doesn't come from money, but from faith.