Homes and the Holy Family!

Sunday, December 28, 2025

Feast of the Holy Family

Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17; Mt 2: 13-15, 19-23

The Feast of the Holy Family invites us to follow the model of the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. 

If there is one institution that has come under a mounting crisis in contemporary times, it is the family. Both in the world and the Catholic Church, a higher percentage of couples are in their second, third, and fourth relationship while hoping that the current one will finally work. In many regions of the world, people are getting married later and later. While there are fewer weddings, many of those end up in divorce. Flowing with the current, many couples prefer to live together in committed relationships without marrying. While children born from single mothers are on the increase, many children live in homes without the presence of a father married to their mother.

One can hardly deny that the rapid transition of marriage in civil society has caught up with Catholics also. Catholics divorcing at rates similar to their fellow citizens explains the marriage crisis within the Church. Catholics marry later, increasingly after periods of extended or even indefinite cohabitation. More shockingly, disagreements are seen among couples with regard to the requirement that sexual activity be limited to husband and wife and always be open to children. We may recall that the former Pope Francis’ post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia integrated these concerns to respond to the modern family crisis. 

While this is the bitter truth about families in modern times, the celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family calls for an imitation of what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph built together. 

The adjective ‘holy’ in the Holy Family does not mean that everything was ideal for the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Instead, the family overcame every difficulty in such a manner that we are called to learn how to build a family like them. Jesus’ family was subject to uncertainty, misunderstanding, poverty, etc., much like many of our families. Hence, the Holy Family is an example that even when we struggle with issues like commitment, work, practicing faith, parenting, financial insecurity, and broken trust, when God becomes the center of our lives, we will succeed just as the Holy Family did. 

Hence, it is worthwhile to reflect on the powerful lessons that the Holy Family offers. 

1. Families and Trust Issues: The Holy Family is an example that our families can thrive even amid trust issues. The trust crisis was visible in the Holy Family when Joseph discovered that Mary was with child before they lived together. Joseph was troubled and confused about it. However, the uncomfortable truth did not shatter their lives because both Mary and Joseph learned to rely on God and understood God’s plan for their lives. In our own families, misunderstanding, lack of transparency, and disappointment can shake the very foundation of it. However, the Holy Family teaches us that moments like these should not destroy our relationships. At such moments, if we choose openness, prayer, and dialogue, trust can be rebuilt and relationships can be healed. 

2. Families and Hardship: Financial insecurity often leads to the disintegration of modern families. Here, we are called to turn to the Holy Family for edification. Joseph was a carpenter. Mary was only a young mother totally dependent on her poor husband for sustenance. The very fact that the family could only afford a manger to place their newborn son explains their financial situation. The Holy Family faced a bleak future without material abundance. However, it teaches a valuable truth that homes are built on love and not on material comforts. The Holy Family found the true riches of life in an atmosphere of love, and this explains why they could stay together even in their nothingness. A family is built on love and nurtured through sacrifices. The Holy Family becomes an example of it. 

3. Families and Faith: Diverse distractions hinder modern families from practicing their faith. Studies reveal that social media addiction has contributed to a considerable loss of faith among youth and children. Here, one cannot underestimate the impact of ideological distractions either. It would be no exaggeration to claim that the growing secularist mindset has weakened faith practice in general. Denying the fact that religion is a force for good, many Catholic families fail in their religious duties, thus alienating their obligation to nurture faith in the young. We again turn to the Holy Family, for example. Mary and Joseph raised Jesus as a faithful child of God. By taking him to the Temple, educating him in the Scriptures, and teaching him faith and obedience, Mary and Joseph prove that parents are the first teachers of faith to the children. Their meticulous training helped Jesus grow in ‘wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man’ (Lk 2: 52). 

4. Families and Fear: A pervasive feeling of uncertainty and fear has gripped modern families. Unhealthy fear is a sign that God is not the center of our lives. The uncertainty of tomorrow, the children’s future, fear of illnesses, political instability, economic crisis, unemployment, migration, etc., are factors that kill the hope in people while driving them to despair. Though the Holy Family went through many of the same issues, it learned to lean on God for everything. The Holy Family was surrounded by uncertainty and fear. Joseph had to follow God’s directions revealed through dreams, often without full explanations, while Mary had to treasure everything in her heart when she could not comprehend whatever unfolded around the birth of her son. However, both stayed loyal to God, who gave them the strength to walk through them all. Faith may not remove difficulties but gives us the grace to seek God through them. 

In sum, the Holy Family teaches that even amid struggles, difficulties, hardships, and imperfections, it is possible to build families if we learn to rely on God. 

Let us pray that we may ever strive to live out the model of the Holy Family.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar