Feast of the Holy Family

26 DECEMBER 2010. Today, the second in the Octave of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family--where the divine will first truly dwelt on earth. There in the little backwater of Bethlehem, crowed with travelers who have come for the census, huddled in a cave - a mere niche in the rock for the protection of livestock - is Christ our saviour, our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her most chaste and faithful spouse Saint Joseph. He who created the world and is beyond all space and time was contained within the immaculate womb of the Virgin. Together they are the family living in accord with the Divine Will, the will of God the Father who has bestowed on the world his only Son as a gift for all humanity.

Feast of the Holy Family

27 DECEMBER 2009.Today, the third day in the Octave of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. The Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas.

Today's readings can be found here.

The Feast of the Holy Family  honors the family of Christ--Our Lord with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, Christ's father on earth. The feast was first promulgated by Pope Leo XIII in 1893. The veneration of the Holy Family formally began in the seventeenth century and was promoted by Msgr. Francois de Laval, a Canadian bishop that help found the confraternity of Holy Family.

The Feast of the Holy Family is about modeling our human families on the picture of love found in the family of Christ. His Mother, our Mother, is the exemplar of Christian love, giving her very being and total life for the love of Jesus, her Son and Our Lord. Saint Joseph is the image of fatherly love and faith in God Our Father.

Prayer

Father,
We look to Your loving guidance and order
as the pattern of all family life.
By following the example of the holy family
of your Son in mutual love and respect,
may we come to the joy of our home in heaven.

Amen.