Homily Starters, Fr. Tony’s Homily
Homily Starters, Fr. Tony’s Homily
December 28, 2025
December 28, 2025
Holy Family (A)
- ANECDOTES
- EXEGESIS
- LIFE MESSAGES
HOMILY STARTERS
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
A Message for Parents
Negative Influences
“Children Learn What They Live”
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
Dorothy Law Nolte
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
Family Dinner
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (5:54) – Parents (Will Ferrell, Ana Gasteyer) act like everything is fine at a family dinner, but soon the tension boils over until everyone is yelling and calling each other names. With Amy Poehler and Gwyneth Paltrow. [Season 27, 2001]
Dysfunctional Family Dinner
Are you anxious of family dinner this holiday season? A senior Judge of the Supreme Court recently congratulated the bride and groom in a marriage with a pertinent piece of advice: “See that you never convert your family into a courtroom; instead let it be a confessional. If the husband and wife start arguing like attorneys in an attempt to justify their behavior, their family becomes a court of law and nobody wins. On the other hand, if the husband and the wife — as in a confessional — are ready to admit their faults and try to correct them, the family becomes a heavenly one.”
In this way, we can avoid the dangers we watch in dysfunctional families as presented in TV in the shows like Married with Children, The Simpson’s, Everyone Loves Raymond and Malcolm in the Middle.
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
The Cosby Show
THE COSBY SHOW (0:34) – The Cosby Show was an American television sitcom that ran from 1984 to 1992. Starring Bill Cosby, the sitcom was first broadcast on September 20, 1984 and ran for eight seasons on the NBC television network, until April 30, 1992.
The Seven C’s of Family Life
One of TV’s highest rated program of all time was The Cosby Show. It was a weekly sitcom about an upper-middle-class black family, which for all practical purposes, had become America’s First Family. In a feature article about Bill Cosby, Newsweek magazine said that his show about the Huxtables is endearing not cutesy, its parents are hassled but never hapless and there is clowning but no guff. The Cosby Show was popular because the family situations it portrayed had an air of universality and reality about them. Any family could identify with both the irritations and misunderstandings that arise on the show, and with the truly humorous and heartwarming things that happen.
While Dr. Cliff Huxtable, his lawyer- wife Clair and their four children are not the perfect counterpart of the Holy Family, they do picture for us in modern terms what some of the qualities of family life should be. The seven ‘C’s of family life are: commitment, communication, compatibility, compassion, confession, conviviality, and children. They sum up today’s readings about how to become a holy family instead of a broken family.
SOURCE: Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
Fr. Tony’s Joke of the Week
One day, a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, mom?” Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.” The little girl thought for a while, and said, “Momma, how come that grandma’s head is full of white hair?”
FIRST READING
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
The first reading is a commentary on the fourth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother.” Ben Sirach has many good things to say about living properly according to the Torah. Sirach reminds children of their duty to honor their parents – even when it becomes difficult. He also mentions the two-fold reward which God promises to those who honor their father and mother. The first reward is “riches,” and the second, long life: “Whoever reveres his father will live a long life.” He reminds children that God blesses them if they obey revere and show compassion to their father.
SECOND READING
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Paul, in the letter to the Colossians, advises us that we should put on love and remain thankful in our relationships with one another. Paul’s advice is part of the “Household Code” – the rules for members of the Christian family. Though its details date to Paul’s time, the underlying message of being careful with one another – being full of care for one another – is timeless. Paul teaches that children should learn and practice noble qualities like compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and sharing in the warmth of the family. In a truly holy family all members are respected, cherished, nurtured and supported, united through the bond of love.
GOSPEL
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
The old Moses and the new Moses. Matthew’s Gospel makes sixteen references to fulfilled prophecy (1:22; 2:5, 15, 17, 23; 3:3; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14, 35; 21:4; 24:15; 26:54, 56 and 27:9), more than twice the number in the other three Gospels combined. The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt is one of them. Presenting Jesus as another Moses, Matthew gives a number of parallels between the two. Today’s Gospel lesson includes several: i) The murder of baby boys by Herod parallels the murder of baby boys by Pharaoh (Ex 1:15-22). ii) Jesus’ flight to Egypt to escape Herod parallels Moses’ being hidden in the bulrushes to escape the Pharaoh who schemed to murder infant Jewish boys in order to lessen Jewish power and the danger of a Jewish takeover (Ex 1 – 2:10). It also parallels Moses’ flight to Midian to escape prosecution for murdering an Egyptian who was abusing a Jew (Ex 2:11-22). iii) Jesus’ return to Israel parallels Moses’ elevation to Pharaoh’s palace as an infant (2:1-10) and his return from exile after the death of the king of Egypt (Ex 3-4). iv) The angel’s assurance“…for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead” (Mt 2:20) parallels, “Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead” (Ex 4:19). But unlike His response in the Exodus account, God does not kill Herod or his soldiers. Instead, Herod kills the infants and other men will, in a few years, kill Jesus. In the Old
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
Lessons from the Holy Family
By celebrating the Sunday following Christmas as the Feast of the Holy Family, the Church encourages us to look to the Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for inspiration, example and encouragement. They were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other, and took good care of their Child so that He might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a Child of God. Jesus brought holiness to the family of Joseph and Mary as Jesus brings us holiness by embracing us in His family. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2223) gives the following advice to the parents: “Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery – the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.’” The CCC adds: “Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children.” (CCC #2223).
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
Marriage: A Sacrament of Holiness
The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that, as the basic unit of the universal Church, each family is called to holiness. In fact, Jesus Christ has instituted two Sacraments in His Church to make society holy – the Sacrament of Holy Orders (priesthood), and the Sacrament of Matrimony (marriage). Through the sacrament of Holy Orders, Jesus sanctifies the priest as well as his parish. Similarly, by the Sacrament of Matrimony, Jesus sanctifies not only the spouses but also the entire family. The husband and wife attain holiness when they discharge their duties faithfully, trusting in God, and drawing on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through personal and family prayer, meditative reading of the Bible, and devout participation in Holy Mass. Families become holy when Christ Jesus is present in them. Jesus becomes truly present in the parish church through the sacrifice of the Holy Mass. Similarly, Jesus becomes truly present in a family when all the members live in the Christian spirit of sacrifice. This happens when there is mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual respect. There must be proper care and respect given by children to their parents and grandparents, even after they have grown up and left home.
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Extending the Boundaries of the Family
The homeless man or woman today in the streets of big cities, fighting the cold and the snow, is part of our family. The drug addict in a den, or living in fear and aloneness this day, is member of our family. The sick person, dying, alone, dirty and maybe even obnoxious, is a member of our family. The person sitting in the prison cell for whatever reason is also a child of God, and as such, according to St. John, is a member of our family. All these, as well as the cherished intimate members of our family, are “family valuables,” and, as such, are worthy of safekeeping and reverence.
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