The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
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During the Octave (eight days) of Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
This feast day honors Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and Saint Joseph as the holiest of families, and therefore a model for all Christians families. They were holy because they placed God at the center of their family life, they loved and sacrificed for one another, and they radiated that love to others in the redemptive mission of the Word Incarnate.
The Feast teaches us about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph- and about each one of us and our own families.
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What is the School of Nazereth?
Through our Baptism, we are invited to live our lives in Christ by living them in the Church - which is the Risen Body of Christ. The Church is the place where we learn, as the Apostle Paul reminded the Colossian Christians, to "put on love, that is, the bond of perfection". (Colossians 3:14) The Gospel of the Liturgy is taken from the presentation of Jesus in the temple account in Saint Luke and the beautiful canticle of Zechariah. (Luke 2:22-40)Upon leaving the temple to return to Nazareth, we read these words:
"When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him."
The Christian family is the first cell of the whole Church. It is the place where we begin the journey toward holiness and become more fully human. The Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, became one of us. He was born into a human family. That was neither accidental nor incidental. There, in what the late Pope Paul VI called the "School of Nazareth", we can learn the way of love...Every moment of his time among us Jesus was saving the world, re-creating it from within. Jesus spent 30 of his 33 earthly years in Nazareth. There, in the holy habitation of Nazareth, He forever transformed family life. Now, He teaches us how to live in His presence, if we will enroll in the "School of Nazareth". From antiquity, the Christian family has rightly been called a "domestic church." In our life within the Christian family, Jesus Christ is truly present...
-Catholic.org
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In a beautiful address on December 28, 2011, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI spoke of the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Here is a short excerpt:
"The house of Nazareth is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the deepest meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
The Holy Family is an icon of the domestic Church, which is called to pray together. The family is the first school of prayer where, from their infancy, children learn to perceive God thanks to the teaching and example of their parents.
An authentically Christian education cannot neglect the experience of prayer. If we do not learn to pray in the family, it will be difficult to fill this gap later. I would, then, like to invite people to rediscover the beauty of praying together as a family, following the school of the Holy Family of Nazareth".
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A Prayer for Families throughout the World
Saint John Paul II was well known for his special love of the family. He famously said while on an apostolic journey to Australia... “As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
John Paul II firmly believed in the family and its foundational role in society. During his pontificate he left a powerful prayer for the family that calls upon God to give specific graces to various members of a household.
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Lord God, from You every family in Heaven and on earth takes its name.Father, You are love and life. Through Your Son, Jesus Christ, born of woman, and through the Holy Spirit, the fountain of divine charity, grant that every family on earth may become for each successive generation a true shrine of life and love. Grant that Your grace may guide the thoughts and actions of husbands and wives for the good of their families and of all the families in the world. Grant that the young may find in the family solid support for their human dignity and for their growth in truth and love. Grant that love, strengthened by the grace of the sacrament of marriage, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. Through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that the Church may fruitfully carry out her worldwide mission in the family and through the family. We ask this of You, Who is life, truth and love with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Your Family is the Domestic Church
In the holy habitation of Nazareth, Jesus transformed family life. Already blessed as God's plan for the whole human race and the first society, the Christian family has been elevated in Christ to a Sacrament, a vehicle of grace and sign of God's presence. The Church proclaims Christian marriage, and the family founded upon it, as a vocation, a response to the call of the Lord.
In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn the way of love in the School of Nazareth. The phrase "domestic church" was one of particular fondness to the great Bishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom. It was a framework for the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on Christian marriage and family. Saint John Paul II developed this teaching in his "Christian family in the Modern World" and his "Letter to the Family". In these writings he invites every Christian family to "become what you are", a domestic church.
The Holy Family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary is not only our model, it is the beginning of the new family of the Church. Our Gospel story today tells us of a family trip which is packed with lessons for those enrolled in the School of Nazareth. In and through the ordinary stuff of daily life, we find Jesus and in the encounter discover ourselves.
-Catholic.org
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Saint Paul wrote to the early Christians:
"Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection." (Colossians 3:12-14)
The first school of prayer and practice, the place where we learn this new way of life called Christianity, is the first cell of the Church, the domestic church of the Christian family.
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readings of the Mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio recording of the Readings of December 26th, 2021. Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
SELECT HERE for the Readings of December 26th, 2021. Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
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