The Church’s Christmas Season begins with Christmas Eve Mass on December 24 and ends in January with the Baptism of Our Lord. The Christmas Season proclaims and celebrates Jesus’s birth and childhood.
Jesus was born in a humble stable into a poor family in the city of Bethlehem. He laid in a manger with Mary and Joseph looking down on Him with great and glorious joy. The Virgin brought into the world the God Eternal. Angels and shepherds were the first witnesses to this glorious event. The birth of Christ is called the Incarnation which means “in the flesh.”
We then celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s. The Feast celebrates the ultimate family unit Jesus, the divine Son of God, his mother, the Virgin Mary, and Joseph, Jesus’ foster father. Mary and Joseph went through three major events during Jesus’s early years: the birth in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, and finding Him in a Temple. What do you think our parents would have done in these situations?
The Feast is not just about the Holy Family. It’s about our families too. The purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for all Christian families around the world. Our family will become sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. The best way to do that is to make Christ the center of our lives by reading Scripture regularly, praying daily, attending Mass at least on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation, doing actions like the Holy Family, and going to Reconciliation as a family unit. What are some of the actions that our family can start doing? What ways can we improve?