Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. This celebration is not only about the Holy Family, but about our families too. The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the model for all Christian families, and for domestic life in general. Our family life becomes holy when we live this life of the Church within our homes. This is called the “domestic church”. So, how can we live out the Church in the family? The best way is to make Christ the center of the family and individual life. This includes reading scripture, praying daily, attending Mass on weekends and holy days of obligation, and imitating the Holy Family in all we say and do for each other. Below, is the prayer to the Holy Family:
Holy Family of Nazareth, make our family one with you. Help us to be instruments of peace. Grant that love, strengthened by grace, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. May we always have God at the center of our hearts and homes until we are all one family, happy and at peace in our true home with you. Amen.
Love,
Deacon John