Friar Luciano Audisio comments on the Gospel of the Sunday of the Holy Family, inviting us to look at Jesus, Mary, and Joseph away from all idealization. Matthew presents them as a threatened family, forced to flee, who live faith in the midst of fear, exile, and uncertainty. There, precisely there, God continues to write his history of salvation.
A family under threat
Today’s readings invite us to contemplate the Holy Family from an unusual angle. Not from the serenity of the manger or from the idealized harmony of the Nativity scenes, but from the night, fear, and exile. The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as a threatened family, forced to flee to save the life of the child. It is a harsh, uncomfortable, deeply real scene.
Matthew does not intend to offer us a sentimental chronicle of the childhood of Jesus. His intention is theological. He wants to show us from the beginning who this child truly is and what kind of salvation he brings. That is why he places his birth under the sign of persecution and displacement. The Messiah enters history not protected by power, but exposed to its violence.
God saves from within history
The flight to Egypt is not an anecdotal episode. It is carefully constructed in the light of Scripture. When Matthew quotes Hosea—“Out of Egypt I called my son”—he does not tear the text from its context, but reads it typologically. In Hosea, the “son” is Israel; in Matthew, that story is revisited in Jesus.
This has a decisive consequence for our faith: God does not save from outside history, but from within. He does not avoid the path of suffering, but goes through it. The Son of God knows from childhood what it means to flee, to depend on others, to live in a foreign land. The incarnation is not an abstract idea, but a concrete, vulnerable, and threatened life.
Joseph and Mary: guarding life in precariousness
At the center of the story is Joseph. Matthew presents him as a silent but deeply active man. He does not speak, does not ask, does not negotiate. He listens, gets up at night, and acts. He does not receive complete explanations, only a word sufficient to take the next step. Joseph embodies a faith that does not control, an obedience that trusts even when the path is not clear.
Mary appears in the background, but not as a passive figure. She shares uprooting, fear, and uncertainty. Her motherhood is lived far from all idealization: on the road, in exile, in precariousness. In her we recognize so many mothers who have had to flee to save the lives of their children.
The Holy Family as a mirror of our time
Celebrating the Holy Family today means letting ourselves be challenged by this realistic image. Not a perfect family, without conflicts or threats, but a faithful family in the midst of adversity. Family sanctity does not consist in the absence of problems, but in the ability to remain united and trust in God even when life forces us to change plans.
This gospel resonates strongly in our present. We live in a world marked by forced displacements, by families fleeing violence, hunger, war. The Holy Family ceases to be a distant image to become a mirror. The face of Christ himself is reflected in every refugee family.
But there are also more silent exiles: homes crossed by illness, precariousness, loneliness, or conflict. To all of them, this gospel says something essential: God does not abandon in exile. He is also present in provisionality, in waiting, in the night.
The Holy Family remains in Egypt until the time comes to return. And when he returns, he does not return to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth. God leads along unexpected paths. His project does not always coincide with our plans. But there, precisely there, faith is at stake.
Let us ask today for the grace to learn from this family: the obedient faith of Joseph, the silent strength of Mary, and the presence of Christ that sanctifies even the paths of exile.
May our families—with their lights and shadows—discover that God walks with them, also at night, also when the future is not clear. Because where a family remains united and trusts, even in a foreign land, God continues to write his history of salvation.
