Today is the Fourth Day of Christmas and the very necessary and beautiful feast of the Holy Family.   The Holy Family is always celebrated within the Octave of Christmas.  Devotion to the Holy Family grew in popularity during the 17th century.  The Holy Family in art also became popular during this time.  Many Popes promoted the feast as a way to counter the breakdown of family life especially during the Industrial Revolution.  Then on October 26, 1921, Pope Benedict XV inserted the Feast of the Holy Family into the General Calendar.

It was the hope that the feast day might instill into Christian families something of the faithful love and the devoted attachment that characterize the family of Nazareth. Of course, we don’t know much about the first years and the boyhood of the Child Jesus.  What we do know is the Flight to Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the incidents that occurred when the twelve-year-old Boy accompanied His parents to Jerusalem.   The Holy Family is the model and exemplar of all Christian families. 

When a man marries a woman a family is established.  One of the main purposes of marriage is to have children and raise them in an indissoluble, committed and faithful relationship between the mother and father, so as to increase the number of the Church and the world.  Every marriage intends children.  No one has a right to have a child, a child is a gift given to the family.

It is necessary for us to recall the supernatural purpose of the family.   The family provides what no one else can: a place where faith is lived, Christ is learned, and worshipped.  The family is the domestic church.  We learn to love and have faith and hope within the family.  We learn to navigate life through the family.  The family home is where we can truly be, who we are.  The family is where we should feel the most secure and loved.

It is the role of mom and dad to help the family in its pursuit of holiness and heaven. Consideration of schools, technology, entertainment, sports, etc. will be made in light of the family’s purpose. Whatever helps build up a community of faith, hope, and love should be embraced. Whatever interferes should be rejected. 

Family life like life itself is difficult. The uniting of two lives as one, the welcoming of children (more personalities) the work, the crises and losses, the daily grind, and so on.  Without a solid purpose, the difficulties of family life cannot be endured.  If we don’t have a final goal in mind, these challenges wear us down. However, if we do have that purpose in mind – that Christ is in each of us – then the challenges, become opportunities for us to become more Christ-like.  Once the spouses or the kids lose sight of their goal, their life together becomes a real mess.

Also, families are not meant to stand alone. They are meant to lean on one another. Family friends and the friends of the children should share the same values. And this is what the Church should be fostering. Families should find strength most of all in God’s family, in the pilgrim Church.  

Joseph and Mary brought the Christ child to the Temple.  They were a religious family, they prayed together.   As the old saying goes:  “The family that prays together, stays together.”   God bless your family and enjoy each other!

Catholic Calendar
Once again this year, through the generosity of Joe Sorce and the staff of Sorce Funeral Home, we have beautiful Catholic calendars for 2026.  Every home should have a Catholics calendar to mark the feast days and seasons of the Church’s year. Please take one home with you.