On the Feast of the Holy Family, we are reminded of  the essential importance of family life. The Letter to the Colossians reminds us how we are to live each day of our family life caring for one another, with love, compassion, kindness and humility, and by forgiving grievances.

The Gospel gives us the Holy Family as an example of a family who lived out the ideal, even in the midst of very unique and trying circumstances. Perhaps your family structure or situation isn’t what it could be, but we can be encouraged by the example and prayers of the Holy Family to persevere in love for each other and in trust in God, and striving to carry or God’s will, together, in spite of the odds.

The Book of Sirach reminds us that parents are given to us by God to care for us and that we must honor them, both when we are young and need their care, and when they are older and in their time of need.  

This joyful feast follows the celebration of the birth of our Lord as a reminder to us that even the Savior needed a human family to be born into, one of love and tenderness and service, one that supported him, tending to his physical and spiritual needs until he was ready to save the world.  Let us also support all of our family members – our human family and our Church family – so each one has the support and strength needed to do God’s will with their lives!