Feast of Holy Family

 Entrusting Our Families to the Holy Family

Today, on this beautiful Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Church places before us not an abstract ideal, but a real family—a family that lived in faith, love, obedience, struggle, and hope. It is most fitting that on this feast we also begin our Parish Year of the Family, entrusting our homes, relationships, and future to God.

The Holy Family was not free from challenges. They experienced uncertainty, fear, and moments of misunderstanding, yet God remained at the center of their lives. What made them holy was not perfection, but faith, trust, obedience, and love. Even when they did not fully understand God’s plan, they continued to walk together in faith.

The family is rightly called the domestic church. It is in the family that faith is first taught, love is practiced, and values are formed. Before Jesus preached to the crowds, He learned how to love, pray, and obey in the home of Mary and Joseph. Their home became the place where God’s will was lived daily.

As we begin this Parish Year of the Family, we are invited to renew our commitment to our own families and to the families of our parish. We are called to place Christ at the center of our homes, to grow in patience and forgiveness, and to support one another with compassion and hope.

Our families today face their own anxieties: economic pressure, broken communication, migration, illness, generational tensions, and the influence of a fast-changing culture. The Holy Family reminds us that faith does not remove problems; it gives us the strength to face them together. Together, Mary and Joseph show us that holiness in family life is built through daily faithfulness, not extraordinary achievements.

Dear brothers and sisters, as we look to the Holy Family today, let us entrust our own families to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Let us ask for the grace to love more deeply, forgive more readily, pray more faithfully, and walk together in hope.