God chose to enter into the world through a human family, entrusting his only Son to a young virgin named Mary, and Joseph, who was a carpenter and member of the House of David.
The Holy Family was formed when Mary and Joseph gave their consent to be the parents of the Son of God. They raised Jesus in the town of Nazareth, observing the faith, customs, and practices of the Jewish people.
Jesus’ humble obedience to his human parents sanctified the family and began his mission to reverse the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are the image of what God intended a family to be, demonstrating the lifelong commitment and sacrificial love of husband and wife, the selfless devotion of parents, and the respectful submissiveness of children.
Although the Church dedicates major feast days to each individual member of the Holy Family, their life together is recognized as its own feast within the Octave of Christmas to highlight the connection with the Birth of Christ.
Catholics celebrate The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph on the Sunday between Christmas (December 25) and the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (January 1) unless both of those feast days fall on Sunday.
The family has a special place in God’s plan:
The family of Jesus deserves to be called holy:
When the angels went away from them to Heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
Luke 2: 15-16
A Family like your family:
The Holy Family is real:
Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the Holy Family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than “the family of God.” From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers “together with all [their] household.” When they were converted, they desired that “their whole household” should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1655
Jesus chose to enter into a family:
Held together by obedience and humility:
A model of Christian family virtues:
The message that comes from the Holy Family is first of all a message of faith: the family of Nazareth is a home which truly centers on God. For Mary and Joseph, this choice of faith becomes concrete in their service to the Son of God entrusted to their care, but it is also expressed in their mutual love, rich in spiritual tenderness and fidelity. With their life, they teach that marriage is a covenant between man and woman, a covenant that involves reciprocal fidelity and rests upon their common trust in God. Such a noble, profound and definitive covenant, as to constitute for believers the sacrament of love of Christ and of the Church. The spouses’ fidelity stands like a solid rock on which the children’s trust rests. When parents and children together breathe this atmosphere of faith they have a ready energy that enables them to face even difficult trials, as the Holy Family’s experience shows.
Pope John Paul II, Angelus Address, 29 December 1996
Celebrating the Holy Family in Nazareth:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Slow to speak and swift to hear:
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