Between Joseph and Mary there existed a holy affection, a spirit of service, and a mutual desire for each others' happiness. This is Jesus' family: sacred, holy, exemplary, a model of human virtues, ready to carry out God's will exactly. A Christian home must be an imitation of the house of Nazareth; a place where there is plenty of room for God so that He can be right at the centre of the love that members of the family have for one another.This feast day falls on the first Sunday after Christmas. Although I can't recall a time in my short Catholic life when this has also fallen on New Year's Day, which is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Talk about two perfect feasts to share the same day!
In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide
I have a special fondness for this feast, engendered largely because of my fervent prayers to the Holy Family in a very trying time, after which Tom and I were given a miraculous sign. Life in the Holy Family is one of my favorite subjects of contemplation, whether when formally in prayer or in little flashes as our family goes through the weeks and years with good and bad times alike.
5 brave one(s) among us:
That is a good feast day, and definitely important since family is the most important institution we have, and still have despite what some modernists say and push. But something in your quote caught my eye. How do we know what Mary's and Joseph's marriage was like? So little is said of it.
Interesting question ... one that the visiting bishop addressed yesterday (Bishop Ducca from Shreveport, grew up in our parish and was visiting family ... he is a terrific homilist).
He began by pointing out all the things that we do NOT think about with the Holy Family. In Bethlehem, they were a homeless family. In going to Egypt, they became also a refugee family, an immigrant family. As Joseph is assumed to have died before Christ began public ministry since he is never mentioned, Mary was a single parent, a widow. So they had tragedies and struggles just like all of us, some more dramatic than others.
He went on to point out that we also can assume they had great harmony. First, Christ was in the center of the marriage. Second, Mary's immaculate conception and being without sin. Then there is Joseph, hand-picked to be Jesus' foster father. Seems like a good prescription to be just about as perfect as a family can be ... not completely perfect, but close I would think.
That doesn't cover it all, of course, but you get the gist, which I think applies to the quote. :-)
Thanks. That's a good response by the Bishop. With all the bickering in my marriage, I guess my wife and I can learn a few things. We could never have been chosen as Christ's parents...LOL. :-)
It might be churlish to point this out but... when there is no Sunday between Christmas and New Year's (ie. when Christmas falls on a Sunday) then the feast is celebrated on Dec 30th.
One more "wow" comment to add to the Bishop's: there is one ancient tradition that holds that Joseph was an older widower when he married Mary. Thus the "brothers" of Jesus were Joseph's children by his previous marriage. That would make Mary a younger second wife and a stepmother, Jesus a step- (and believed to be half-) brother to some other kids, and the Holy Family a "blended family". Chew on THAT one for a bit!
I saw calendars that had it both ways and, personally felt that it blended in well with Mary, Mother of God ... so left it. :-)
I have seen that ancient tradition of Joseph as the older husband. But I like better the refutations, which point out how much more it meant for Joseph as a young man to embrace chastity and be Mary's husband and Jesus' adopted father. In which case, the Hebrew language of the time (and possibly now for all I know) used "brothers" to indicate "cousins" or other close male relatives ... which is common enough in nomadic societies.
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