Celebrate what is Holy in YOUR Family
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I pray that you are having a joyful Christmas Season. This Sunday, just after Christmas, is known as the Feast of the Holy Family. Obviously, the feast has reference to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. However, it also has reference to each and every human family.
It is no coincidence that God deigned to manifest Himself in the flesh in the context of a family. Born or Mary, with Joseph as his foster father, Jesus entered the human condition as an infant. Born in poverty and fleeing persecution, Jesus and his family endured the difficulties shared by many families, not unlike those in our present-day.
There is something about family that reflects the very nature of God Himself. God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in His very nature is a community of persons; a community of generative love. Every human family that grounds itself in self-sacrificing love is an image, albeit imperfect, of the Most Holy Trinity.
It is true that the Feast of the Holy Family invites us to imitate the holiness of the “Holy Family” in how we treat one another, but it also invites us to look for the mystery of God’s grace already at work in our own family. In good times and in bad, in moments of spiritual growth and at times of spiritual dryness or wandering, God does not abandon us. His grace is there to help our families. Sometimes when at first it appears a door of opportunity has been closed, God’s grace can enable us to see a new window of opportunity that is opening.
I hope that most of you had the opportunity on Christmas to spend time with your family. I invite you, on this Feast of the Holy Family, to look at what is holy in your family and to celebrate it.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
