Like most of us, Jesus grew up in a family. He grew up in a holy family. He grew up in a holy home. He grew up in a holy place. He grew up in a holy neighborhood. He grew up in a holy village. He grew up in a holy space.
Like the holy family your family too is a holy family. Your home is a holy home. Your home is a holy place. Your home is a holy environment. Your home is a sacred space. Your home is something bigger, fuller and more profound than anything seen by the naked eye. It has a sacred landscape.
And your home is a holy place because it is where most children are conceived. It is where some children are born. It is where most children are welcomed. It is where most children are cared for. It is where most children are very much and fiercely loved.
Your home is a holy place because it is where most children are held. It is where most children are caressed. It is where most children are talked to. It is where most children are smiled at. It is where most children are saturated with the gift of the Spirit given in baptism.
Your home is a holy place because that is where most children are cared for when they are sick. It is where they are cared for when they are diseased. It is where we are cared for when we grow old. It is where some of us die.
Your home is a holy place because it is where children hear about God. It is where we talk to God. It is where we connect with God. It is where we communicate with God. It is where we encounter God. It is where we engage God.
Your home is where children and adults share their faith. It is where we give witness to our faith. It is where we live our faith. It is where we practice our faith. It is where we energize our faith.
Your home is where children learn to pray. It is where we learn to bless ourselves. It is where we learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer. It is where we learn to pray the Hail Mary. It is where we learn to pray the Glory be to The Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Your home is where children learn about responsibility and about morality. It is where we learn about the essential Christian values that guide our lives; that drive our lives; that empower our lives; that give purpose to our lives. It is where our values match our lives.
Your home is where children are introduced to the great existential questions of life. It is where we begin to deal with questions like “Why was I born? Where am I going? How do I get there? What purpose do I have in life? What is my vocation in life? Why is there so much poverty, pain and suffering in life?
Your home is where you reflect on the suffering and pain of the holy family. Mary, Joseph and Jesus, like most families, did not have it easy. They traveled 25 miles on an animal’s back to register for a census. They had no sanitized hospital for a birth. They had no nurse and they had no doctor for the delivery of their son. All they had was an animal shelter.
Mary and Joseph fiercely loved their Son. At the appropriate time, they let him go in peace and confidence. They gradually set him free. They gradually gave him independence.
Your home is where you learn how Mary and Joseph dealt with losing their teenage son; how they dealt with miscommunication; how they dealt with misunderstanding; how they dealt with loss; how they dealt with anxiety; how they dealt with sorrow; how they dealt with trials and how they dealt with tragedies.
Mary and Joseph, in their times of misunderstanding and loss and sorrow and anxiety and trials and tragedies, did not erupt in in anger; did not erupt in accusations; did not erupt in criticism; did not erupt with harsh judgments.
Instead, Mary and Joseph were as polite as possible; as respectful as possible; as thoughtful as possible; as compassionate as possible; as forgiving as possible. That is what makes them and us holy families.
“In every culture the family is the first and most important place for educating good citizens because it is the place people learn to live collectively; to care for one another; to love one another; to generate and produce life; to create relationships between those who are different; to forgive others; to help others; to dream about the future.” (Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, Pontifical Council for the Family, December 2012)
Msgr. Thomas J. Morgan is retired pastor of St. Thomas More and St. Mary Parishes, Cherry Hill.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”