Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, and on Sunday we will celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. It is not by accident that these two days fall so closely after we celebrate Christmas Day. We are, after all, still in the Christmas season and these days serve to remind us that God did not just come down to us out of nowhere. He came through a Mother. He came through a family.
Such a powerful witness should make it clear to us just how dear to Christ’s Heart the family is (perhaps an important thing to bear in me during the holidays...). St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother show us the heroism that is involved in parenting; the complete giving over of their lives for the sake of their Child. The Christ Child, for His part, reminds us that even He humbled Himself enough to become a child, totally trusting and obedient to His parents, as we are all called to be, not just to our earthly parents but to our Heavenly Father as well.
Now our families may all be far from the Holy Family, but nonetheless all families are called by God to be a community of love, as the Holy Family was. Of course, we live in a day and age in which family life is under attack in so many different ways, and for many, family can be a source of pain rather than love. As we continue this beautiful Christmas season, I would encourage you to turn to the Holy Family for comfort. Ask St. Joseph, Our Blessed Mother, and of course Christ Himself to fill you with the love of their family, to share that love with all families most in need of it, and to defend the beauty of family life in a world that needs more holy families.
Pax Vobiscum
