May all families feel the love of the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. May all families strive to continually become a Holy Family!
God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.
Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,
and, when he prays, is heard.
Whoever reveres his father will live a long life;
he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.
My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
—a house raised in justice to you.
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean.
There are several examples of the Holy Family in Scripture besides this one from today’s gospel;
Joseph being told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife… the child is conceived of the Holy Spirit.
The trip to Bethlehem, not finding any room to stay, giving birth to the God Man in a stable, angels singing, shepherds visiting and worshiping.
Trip to Jerusalem 40 days after the birth of Jesus to fulfill the prescription of the Law, Simeon coming to the Temple at this time and proclaiming “Now master you may let your servant go in peace…” and to Mary, “A sword will pierce your heart…”
Fleeing to Egypt.
To the finding of the child Jesus teaching in the Temple when he was “lost” for 3 days.
TIme as a family in Nazareth.
(Sorry I didn’t note the exact chapter and verse, they are in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 & 2)
People can relate to various events in the life of the Holy Family depending on where they live and the circumstances of that place. Fleeing for their lives as refugees is a reality for some people.
There is one that I can personally relate to as can my parents! Only I wasn’t “lost” for 3 days, only about 5 minutes.
We were in Southroads Mall in Neb. at one of the stores. We were in the toy isle (I was about 5 yrs.) and I was fascinated by some toy, when I was finished looking at it for a long time, I looked around and my family was gone! I had stood right there and looked at the same toy and they were gone! I went to the end of the isle and looked both ways and didn’t see anyone from my family, went to the other end of the isle and didn’t see anyone from my family. Walked to the counter as I had been taught (in case we lost one another) and said that my parents were lost! They paged my parents who were very revealed to find me!
From my mom once I was grown…she thought I was with my dad and my dad thought I was with my mom, so they weren’t concerned until they met back up and of course I was with neither!
A big difference was I wasn’t in church, but when ever I read that account I know I can relate to my parents getting lost, and sometimes I lose Jesus by walking away and I have to go back and find Him!
