Holy Family

Here we are right in the middle of the Octave of Christmas, still celebrating the great day that has just passed. On this Sunday we focus on the Holy Family. This is a wonderful opportunity to look at the Holy Family as a model for our family. How can our families be more like the Holy Family? Take some time to ask the question in prayer. Many balk and might say, “We are no Holy Family.” Of course you aren’t, but you can be more and more like them as you learn from them. How much have you talked to them? Let Jesus, Mary and Joseph guide you on this journey. It is hard to know what it might have been like back then, but it wasn’t too different than now. Human nature is human nature and they had many of the same struggles that we do, yet they had extraordinary grace to deal with the day to day challenges. They had Emmanuel, Jesus, God with them. So do we. We have Jesus with us, body and blood, soul and divinity in the most holy sacrament of the altar. We have Jesus with us in the Eucharist and in all of the Sacraments He gave to us in His Church as signs of His love. Jesus presence in the lives of Mary and Joseph helped them to love the Lord with all their heart, and all their mind, and all their strength because He was right there with them. They were able to focus on doing the will of God because there He was in their midst.

What did they rely on to guide them as they raised Jesus? Faith was their guide. So it is for us. Faith is our guide in the midst of a world that is hostile and at times overbearing. Faith is our guide through the struggles. God with us, Emmanuel, is our consolation on the journey. As we recognize His presence more and more, it is easier to focus on Him and to seek to do His will. As I heard Archbishop Sheen say once, “If I ask you about the Incarnation, many of you will point to the Nativity as an event that has happened in the past and is over.” The Incarnation is not over, but is always happening in our lives as we make Him present. The Eucharist is where this happens for us in the Church and as we receive Him, we become what we receive, if we believe. This is an awesome mystery and it becomes more and more real as we put our trust in Him. Mary and Joseph trusted God with all their heart and so they were given the great gift to be the parents of Jesus. Putting all our trust in Him we too will be given the great gift of knowing His presence in our lives, in our families, in our world.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you, save souls.