Feasts of the Holy Family & Mary, Mother of God
December 30, 2023 at 12:00 a.m.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
“Wait, Merry Christmas?” you ask. “I was in Home Depot last night and there wasn’t a string of lights in sight, they were practically setting up patio furniture and lawnmower displays already. Doesn’t that mean Christmas is long gone?”
Nope. We’re just about at the halfway point of the real Christmas season believe it or not. Remember the Twelve Days of Christmas song? That refers to the 12 days AFTER Christmas, not before – and even after that, the season doesn’t end until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is January 8th this year. So, step away from those ornament boxes and decoration bins and bake some more cookies!
During the REAL Christmas Season in the Church, we have a number of feast days – you’re probably familiar with the Epiphany, which is when we celebrate the coming of the Magi. But 2 feasts we often don’t pay much attention to (although they’re both really important!) are the feast of the Holy Family, and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. And this year they’re back to back on 12/31 and 1/1.
Jesus was born into a FAMILY. He could have shown up on day one of his public ministry, briefcase-in-hand as it were, but he came as a baby. He had a mom. He had a dad (granted Joseph was his adoptive father, since God is Jesus’ father, but still!). Jesus knew what it was like to live family life. They had big exciting fun moments together, and I’m sure plenty of mundane daily life moments. By the way, can you imagine Mary talking to the rest of the moms at school pick-up?
Mom #3: My son is soooo stubborn. I can’t get him to do his homework.
Mom #7: Mine too! You wouldn’t believe the way he talks back to me. How about yours, Mary?
Mary: Oh..um…well let’s just say I never dreamed motherhood could be quite like this…
Moms: I couldn’t agree more.
One thing we can take away from the witness of the Holy Family is that FAMILY is important! It can be easy to look at our friends or teammates as our real “family” and we might even prefer their company to spending time with our own family at home. Sometimes the people we live with can even be the hardest to love – everything from the annoying way your brother slurps his cereal in the morning to family relationships that are sources of deep pain and suffering for us. But just because it can be hard to love our families and it takes effort, doesn’t mean it’s not well worth it!
There’s a great acronym for working on family life, that I’d challenge all of us to put into practice this week – that acronym is…well, F.A.M.I.L.Y. There we go, easy to remember. It stands for “Forget About Me, I Love You”. It means we put the others in our family before ourselves. We sacrifice for them. We anticipate their needs. We remember that the world doesn’t’ revolve around us.
So, what’s one practical way (for starters) that you can love your family this week? Are you doing your fair share of chores around the house? Are you making time to play with your younger siblings? When’s the last time you helped your parents make dinner? Put your family first this week, and then ask Mary and Joseph to pray for you, that Jesus would give you the grace you need to be the best family member you can be. And don’t forget to keep your Christmas celebration going. More cookies!!
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
“Wait, Merry Christmas?” you ask. “I was in Home Depot last night and there wasn’t a string of lights in sight, they were practically setting up patio furniture and lawnmower displays already. Doesn’t that mean Christmas is long gone?”
Nope. We’re just about at the halfway point of the real Christmas season believe it or not. Remember the Twelve Days of Christmas song? That refers to the 12 days AFTER Christmas, not before – and even after that, the season doesn’t end until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is January 8th this year. So, step away from those ornament boxes and decoration bins and bake some more cookies!
During the REAL Christmas Season in the Church, we have a number of feast days – you’re probably familiar with the Epiphany, which is when we celebrate the coming of the Magi. But 2 feasts we often don’t pay much attention to (although they’re both really important!) are the feast of the Holy Family, and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. And this year they’re back to back on 12/31 and 1/1.
Jesus was born into a FAMILY. He could have shown up on day one of his public ministry, briefcase-in-hand as it were, but he came as a baby. He had a mom. He had a dad (granted Joseph was his adoptive father, since God is Jesus’ father, but still!). Jesus knew what it was like to live family life. They had big exciting fun moments together, and I’m sure plenty of mundane daily life moments. By the way, can you imagine Mary talking to the rest of the moms at school pick-up?
Mom #3: My son is soooo stubborn. I can’t get him to do his homework.
Mom #7: Mine too! You wouldn’t believe the way he talks back to me. How about yours, Mary?
Mary: Oh..um…well let’s just say I never dreamed motherhood could be quite like this…
Moms: I couldn’t agree more.
One thing we can take away from the witness of the Holy Family is that FAMILY is important! It can be easy to look at our friends or teammates as our real “family” and we might even prefer their company to spending time with our own family at home. Sometimes the people we live with can even be the hardest to love – everything from the annoying way your brother slurps his cereal in the morning to family relationships that are sources of deep pain and suffering for us. But just because it can be hard to love our families and it takes effort, doesn’t mean it’s not well worth it!
There’s a great acronym for working on family life, that I’d challenge all of us to put into practice this week – that acronym is…well, F.A.M.I.L.Y. There we go, easy to remember. It stands for “Forget About Me, I Love You”. It means we put the others in our family before ourselves. We sacrifice for them. We anticipate their needs. We remember that the world doesn’t’ revolve around us.
So, what’s one practical way (for starters) that you can love your family this week? Are you doing your fair share of chores around the house? Are you making time to play with your younger siblings? When’s the last time you helped your parents make dinner? Put your family first this week, and then ask Mary and Joseph to pray for you, that Jesus would give you the grace you need to be the best family member you can be. And don’t forget to keep your Christmas celebration going. More cookies!!