Christmastide is not only a time to reflect on the holy mysteries of our salvation, but a time of renewed relationships with family and friends. Shortly before confessions in our school during Advent many of our children brought up that this holy season is a special “family time.” It is truly a bonding moment. There are many ways families enjoy each other’s company, showing by simple gestures of kindness that their love remains strong and vibrant. To treasure family life is one of the many graces of Christmastide.
Therefore, it makes sense that on the Sunday after Christmas and before the New Year that we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Here is another reason to place a manger scene beneath the Christmas tree each year. In the traditional depictions all are kneeling, bending in adoration of the Christ child, lying in the manger. Closest to Jesus is Mary, His Mother, and Joseph, His foster Father. As you know the true Father of Jesus is God Himself. Thus Jesus is the God Man, fully human and fully divine. He did all this, for us, to draw near to us. He saves us as one like us in all things but sin. The traditional manger scene reminds families to consecrate themselves to Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and beg that the Holy Family bless their own family. The entire Bible speaks to family life. The first two chapters of the Gospel of St. Luke record for all time how Jesus came into the world and makes clear in the connection with the human and divine, the dignity and sanctity of the family, and life itself. These teachings cannot be changed by any civil law. They are rooted in our human nature by God’s natural law, and confirmed by the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior. No one on earth has the authority to change what God has revealed. To obey God’s laws on the family is to become truly human; to disobey them is bring about our dehumanization to the detriment of all. This is the current crisis that calls out to heaven for intervention.
The Catholic Family and all families must struggle to keep Christ at the center of their lives day by day. Daily prayers in the home, including the rosary, assistance at Mass on all Sundays and holydays, study of the Faith (Creed, Sacraments, Ten Commandments, Prayer), lived in an atmosphere of love and respect, is to make Christ truly and really incarnate through husband and wife and their children. To enter a Christian home is to enter into the presence of Christ Himself. In the love of faithful couples with their children we meet Jesus Himself. This is the holy vocation of the family made holy and elevated by the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony. May God abundantly bless all our families and loved ones in the coming year!
I also remind you that January 1st, 2020, the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God is a holyday of obligation. We have scheduled Masses on Tuesday, December 31st, 2019 at 5pm and on Wednesday, January 1st at 8:15am and 10am. At the beginning of a New Year it has always been the custom to give thanks for the past year and humbly ask for God’s blessing in the New Year. The greatest title of Mary is “Mother of God.” This was confirmed in the Councils of the Church held in the first centuries of Christianity. This truth remains the same and cannot change. The Greek term is Theotokos, which means the “God Bearer,” always translated as “Mother of God.” Mary has no other privilege greater than this and all her other privileges flow from it. Mary, our dear and Blessed Mother is the model of the Christian Life. In her we witness the power of God’s grace. She enters most perfectly into the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of our redemption. With her powerful intercession, we will be able to do the same and one day join her in the glory of heaven. “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Yours in the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Fr. Mark G. Mazza, Pastor