How good God is to give each of us the gift of a family! God mediates His love to us, and provides us with His special care and protection, through our family. It is one of the important ways that we come to understand that God is Love, through the love of our parents.
Faith in God begins in the family. There are so many good gifts we receive through our family: faith, love, care, protection. We should always be grateful to God for our family. And we should pray for our family: prayers of gratitude to God, prayers of intercession for each member of the family, and prayers asking God’s continued abundant blessings. We should never take such a good gift for granted.
During the Octave of Christmas, we always honor the Holy Family of Nazareth: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We ask their blessing upon our families as we seek to serve God. St. Luke tells us that each year the Holy Family went up together to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. That reminds us of the vocation of the family: to serve God and to serve each other. We can imagine how wonderfully that vocation of loving service must have been carried out in the day-to-day life of the Holy Family: serving God in heaven above; and serving each other with care and devotion, willing to sacrifice for the other.
During the Christmas season we sing: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.” You also should sing a song of gratitude to God from your heart: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come to our family; the Lord has come to our home. Let earth receive her King, and let every heart prepare Him room.”
Thinking ahead to our Eucharistic Congress next September, we have chosen the theme: “Stay with us, Lord.” These are the words the two disciples spoke to Jesus on the road to Emmaus. There are many ways the risen Lord does remain with us – most especially in the Holy Eucharist, His Real Presence – but the risen Lord also remains with us in our families, especially as we enthrone Him at the center of our families and honor Him.
As you participate in Holy Mass and offer Jesus’ sacrifice, the gift of His life to the Father for our salvation, ask the Lord to bless your family with His presence, His love and His peace throughout 2019.
Bishop Peter Jugis delivered this homily on Dec. 30, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.