The Sunday in the Octave of Christmas is when we celebrate the first family of Christianity: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Gospel from Luke is about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple where Simeon makes his prophecy, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are the perfect family and the perfect model for family life. But how can we hope to follow their example? Through the grace of God! The family—mother, father, and child—is the ecclesia domestica, or domestic church; the first place where the faith is shared with a new generation. In the marriage of man and woman, a sacrament of mercy for humanity, we are given the grace to grow in love for God and one another.
“The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society” (CCC, #2207).
We need to pray for those who don’t understand that family is not about two people contracting with each other for their own sakes, but about a covenantal love that is lived in and through their fruitful love culminating in children in order to bring about the Kingdom of God.
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