DECEMBER 30,31, 2017
SATURDAY 4:30 PM, SUNDAY 10:30 AM ORDINARY FORM MASSES
We are less than a week into the Christmas season. Although the world has already wrapped up Christmas and is moving on toward President’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
For Catholics, at least from a liturgical perspective, Christmas began on Christmas Eve, and will continue until the Epiphany, which this year is January 7.
Today is the feast of the Holy Family.
So, what can be said about families?
If we examine the family from a sociological perspective, we can talk about nuclear families, extended families, blended families, and even families of choice.
From a genealogical perspective, we all know what parents, grandparents, and siblings are; but we may wonder about just what is a first cousin or a second cousin – and what does it mean to be once or twice removed.
Nonetheless, these designations and analyses of what a family is are about as helpful as trying to delineate the difference between a house and a home.
Both family and home are not easily defined, because both family and home are defined in the heart and not in the head.
The Feast of the Holy Family should give us pause as to what makes a family “Holy?”
And without going into all sorts of theological extrapolations, I was propose a short and simple answer. A Holy Family is a family that has God at its heart.
This can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, too: particular devotions and prayers, customs and traditions.
But with God at its center, a family can truly become holy.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us reflect on our own situations … and in aspiring at personal holiness – with God at the center of our lives – let us strive to keep God at the center of our families as well.
