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December 26, 2004
The Feast Of The Holy Family
The first Sunday after Christmas, on the liturgical calendar, celebrates the Holy Family. Pope Leo XIII instituted this feast in 1892, encouraging societies honoring the Holy Family to be established everywhere. He established this feast day to remind families of the sacredness of the family and to provide the laity with a model upon which to structure their own families. In 1974 Pope Paul VI wrote, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis Cultus (For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary):
On the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (the Sunday within the octave of Christmas) the Church meditates with profound reverence upon the holy life led in the house at Nazareth by Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, Mary His Mother, and Joseph the just man (cf. Mt. 1:19).
In this meditating on the interior life of the Holy Family we discover those areas of our family's life that need improving. We also find a model for family life that ultimately leads all its members to heaven. Today, let us pray for the grace to lead lives that imitate those of the Holy Family. As we prepare to leave the stable in Bethlehem let us turn our gaze to the house in Nazareth, for it was in the "ordinary" life of the Holy Family that "extraordinary" holiness was lived.
May the Holy Family continue to bless and guide you and your family. Amen.
Posted by HolyFamily at December 26, 2004 07:22 AM
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