Sunday the 28th of December 2025 - The Holy Family

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14/ Ps 128(127)/ Colossians 3:12-17/ Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, a celebration that comes in the Christmas season, reminding us that the Word made flesh did not come into this world as a solitary figure, but as a member of a family. The God who created all things chose to enter human history through the most fundamental human institution. The Gospel today might come as a bit of a shock. We do not see a tranquil domestic scene, but a family in crisis, a family of asylum seekers, refugees fleeing for their lives. They knew the vulnerability of displacement, the fear of persecution, the uncertainty of exile. The Holy Family was a refugee family, driven from their homeland by violence, seeking safety in Egypt.

This reality should challenge our consciences. When we look at refugees today, families fleeing violence, persecution, and death, we are not looking at strangers, we are looking at the Holy Family. When we consider how we respond to asylum seekers, to those seeking safety and welcome, we must remember that the family we honour today knew exactly what that desperation is like. Yet the Holy Family's witness goes even deeper than this. In our contemporary world, we face a crisis regarding the very understanding of what family means. As Sirach reminds us in the first reading, the wisdom of Scripture presents the family as a divine institution, established by God, with specific purposes and profound dignity. The family is the first and vital building block of society. The Church has consistently taught that the family is a communion of persons, a man and a woman united in the covenant of marriage, open to the gift of children, forming a domestic church where faith is first learned and love is first experienced.

In our times, this understanding has been obscured, weakened, even attacked. We live in a culture that increasingly treats children as a commodity, as objects of right rather than gifts from God. We see the rise of technologies and ideologies that separate procreation from the loving union of husband and wife, that reduce the mystery of new life to a matter of choice and control. A child is not something owed to us, but the supreme gift of marriage, a human person. Consider the witness of the Holy Family against this cultural tide. Mary and Joseph received the Christ child not as something they had earned or controlled, but as a gift. They understood their role not as possessors but as stewards, not as owners but as guardians of a life that belonged ultimately to God. Every child comes into this world with an immortal soul, created directly by God at the moment of conception, bearing the divine image, destined for eternal communion with the Trinity. The woman at the heart of a family participates in God's ongoing creative work. Mary, the Mother of God, shows us the dignity and beauty of motherhood elevated to its highest expression. She who bore the Saviour of the world in her womb reveals to all mothers the sacred nature of their vocation.

Joseph, that just man, that guardian, shows us the dignity of fatherhood. Adopting Jesus as his own, Joseph fulfilled perfectly the role of protector, provider, and guide. He worked to support his family, made difficult decisions to keep them safe, taught Jesus the trade of carpentry, the prayers of Israel, the ways of righteousness. The Holy Family worked hard creating a home. Not a home free from struggle, but a holy home where God dwelt. In that home, Jesus grew in wisdom and favour before God and man. The domestic church of Mary and Joseph was the school where the Son of God learned what it meant to be human. This is the model the Church sets before every Christian family. Parents have the first and irreplaceable responsibility for the education of their children, not merely their academic education, but their formation in virtue, their introduction to the faith, their preparation for eternal life. They do this by example. Children learn holiness through witness. When they see their parents pray, when they observe acts of forgiveness and reconciliation, when they experience tenderness and fidelity, when they witness service to others. The Holy Family reminds us that family life is meant to be a participation in the life of the Trinity. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in an eternal communion of love, so the family is called to be a communion of people, each giving themselves in love to the others. The sacrament of Matrimony is not just a contract or a social arrangement; it is a sacred covenant through which Christ sanctifies husband and wife and makes them channels of his grace to their children and to the world.

Today's feast calls us to recognise that our understanding of family cannot stop at the boundaries of our own household. All the baptised become members of God's family. We are all brothers and sisters of Jesus, all children of the same heavenly Father, all empowered by the Holy Spirit. This means that the homeless person is our brother, the refugee family seeking asylum is part of our family, the sick, the poor, the marginalized, are not strangers to be feared or problems to be solved, they are family members to be loved and welcomed. The Holy Family knew what it meant to be refugees, to be vulnerable, to depend on the kindness of strangers. When they fled to Egypt, they relied on the hospitality of foreigners. When they returned to Nazareth, they rebuilt their lives with the support of their community. They understood that family extends beyond blood relations to encompass all who are united in God's love. This is why the Church has always understood itself as a family, the Family of God. The Mass is the gathering of this family around the table of the Lord. Here we express our love for one another, seek forgiveness for the ways we have failed each other, bring our needs and petitions, and give thanks for all we have received. The Eucharist makes us family in a deep way, we all share in the one Body of Christ. Every Christian home should be a little church, a place where prayer is offered, Scripture is read, forgiveness is practiced, and love reigns. Just as the universal Church gathers for Mass, so the domestic church gathers for family prayer. Just as the universal Church reaches out in mercy to those in need, so the domestic church opens its doors in hospitality and service.

Today, we are called to examine our own lives and families. How well are we following the example of the Holy Family? Do we honour the sacred covenant of marriage? Do we welcome children as gifts from God? Do we create homes where faith can flourish? Do we recognise our responsibility not only to our immediate family but to the entire family of God? Marriage is a sacred vocation in which a man and woman are called to support each other in holiness, creating a home where Christ dwells, teaching children by word and example. God entrusts a great responsibility to parents, to raise immortal souls, to form disciples of Jesus, to prepare citizens of heaven. As the Holy Family shows us, this requires sacrifice, vigilance, and trust in God. Children also have responsibilities to honour their parents. The Fourth Commandment is not merely for young children; it remains throughout life. We are all called to embrace our identity as members of God's family. This means treating every person we encounter as a brother or sister in Jesus, opening our hearts to the vulnerable and marginalised, building a society that protects and supports families, that welcomes refugees, that cares for the poor.

We must not be deceived by the distorted images of family life that surround us in popular culture. The dysfunctional families portrayed in entertainment are not the norm we should accept, but the brokenness we are called to heal. The Holy Family shows us something better, a family rooted in faith, sustained by love, living in holiness. Let us pray for our own families, that they grow in holiness. Let us pray for all families struggling with division, poverty, or persecution. Let us pray for our parish family, that we may truly be brothers and sisters to one another. Let us pray for the grace to see every person as a member of God's family, worthy of our love and respect, to build families and communities that reflect the love of the Trinity.

God Bless, Brendan.