The Holy Family is a model for holy families. We need to commit to building a culture of family in a hostile world. Within the Octave of Christmas, we celebrate the Holy Family. This helps us deepen our understanding of these three persons and how they intervened in salvation history. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in a special way that changed the course of history forever. It invites us as well to meditate on the importance of family as the most basic building block of civilization.
From 2005 to 2008, I worked in Catholic formation for adolescent boys in the greater Washington, D.C. area. It was a profound experience of getting to know the power of a good family. When I returned to Rome to continue my studies, I reflected on my own vocation. I was aware that with my commitment to celibacy and my religious vow of chastity, I would not have my own family, but I would be forming young people to have their own healthy and holy families. Although my vocation is fundamentally an answer to God’s call, one of my strongest motivations is that while I will not have my own family, I will be helping to form other families. I know that working to form families according to the Holy Family helps to create a model for holy families.
To recover our society, we need to build strong families, founded on strong marriages, formed by Catholic men and women who want to live out their faith to the full.
Family under attack
The family is under attack. “In 1970, 67% of Americans ages 25 to 49 were living with their spouse and one or more children younger than 18. Over the past five decades, that share has dropped to 37%.” (Pew Research Center, “The Modern American Family”) With the reduction of young families, a host of other problems have surged. With the weakening of the family, children grow up without the moral formation that is essential for a happy and flourishing life.
How willing are you to support the family? I think that now in this time of Christmas, we are called in a special way to dedicate ourselves more deeply to cultivate family values as this is the only way to preserve our culture in the face of constant attacks from our society.
“The situation in which the family finds itself presents positive and negative aspects: the first are a sign of the salvation of Christ operating in the world; the second, a sign of the refusal that man gives to the love of God.” (Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 6)
Strengthening the institution of marriage
From my seminary days, I have always been fascinated by the vocation of marriage. It is a wonderful way to enter more deeply into a vocation to holiness that we all have. We are called to fidelity within marriage. One of the damaging aspects that I see in our society is that many people try to normalize infidelity. Many say “that’s just the way men are,” with a shrug of the shoulders. This is not true. It is not normal to cheat on your marriage.
The institution of marriage is not an undue interference by society or authority, nor the extrinsic imposition of a form. Rather it is an interior requirement of the covenant of conjugal love which is publicly affirmed as unique and exclusive, in order to live in complete fidelity to the plan of God, the Creator. (Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 11)
Sexual relations only find their proper context within the sacrament of marriage. It is almost as if you are saying: “I love you so much that I am willing to raise a child with you, if that be God’s will for us.”
Catholic men and women who want to live their faith to the full
We have to remember that there are Catholic men and women who want to live their faith to the full. “They should be helped to perceive the attraction of a complete union that elevates and perfects the social dimension of existence, gives sexuality its deepest meaning and benefits children by offering them the best context for their growth and development.” (Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia, 206)
We need more virtue to prepare good marriages. “Among these, chastity proves invaluable for the genuine growth of love between persons.” (Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia, 206) How challenging are you with young men and women so that they live out their faith?
A model for holy families
Now, we are never going to be able to compete with the Holy Family. God has a plan for marriage. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are the perfect family. But they do serve as a positive example for all of our families.
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