Feast of the Holy Family
Reflection
When we think of the Holy Family, we usually limit our thoughts to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Yet, Christmas teaches that God is at home with us. “We are one in the family of faith, sharing our small planet as together we hurl through space. This is our home and these are our brothers and sisters. We have no excuse to be irresponsible, selfish, or unjust, but we also have the invitation to rest, to find warmth, and to seek comfort in God our Mother and Father. We are not alone. God journeys with us and we journey together.”(Thomas Hoffman) This is the holy family of which we all are a part.
Prayer
May we all be one in You.
Action
Reflect on the unity of the human family. Expand that to include nonhuman inhabitants of our planet. How does this change your attitude toward all God’s creation?
Suggested Reading
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Luke 2:51
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.
Col 3: 12-21
Families are important in society and the Church, and the Gospel first passes through them to reach other areas of life.
Pope Francis
Through our family, we belong to the whole of creation; we contribute in a specific manner to promoting ecology.
Synod Report to Pope Francis
We are one people, one family, the human family, and what affects one of us affects us all.
John Lewis
If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
Kofi Annan
Global Family Day provides a way in which every man, woman, and child in the United States can help to reduce suffering at home, repair our damaged image abroad, and help us remember that in the end, all people belong to the same human family.
John Conyers
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.
Maya Angelou
Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.
Rabindranath Tagore
Frankly, I’m fed up with politicians in Washington lecturing the rest of us about family values. Our families have values. But our government doesn’t.
Bill Clinton