The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is the Feast that we celebrate this Sunday after Christmas. We can easily over-romanticize their life together, forgetting that Jesus’ birth too place in a stable and his parents had to flee to Egypt to escape the threat of Herod who was searching for the child ”to destroy him.” We need to think about not only the physical discomforts that this family had to endure, but also – when you think of the emotional challenge of these days – their ability to think quickly and take the appropriate action. They offer us much inspiration whenever we may ask ourselves what we need to do and how to go about doing it. We might wish that an angel would appear to us and tell us what to do, but God endows us with much to help us know what to do when we need help. I hope that you had a Blessed and Merry Christmas! I’m sure there were large family gatherings as well as simple, quiet observances of the day. This season seems to provide us with many opportunities to get together and enjoy one another’s company; however, everyone is different in the way that they celebrate this Christmas season. Many are blessed to have extended families to spend time. The Christmas-Epiphany season continues until the Baptism of the Lord on January 12th.
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.