SPEAKER_00: The church in her wisdom places the feast of the Holy Family immediately after Christmas, not by accident, but by design.
SPEAKER_00: Because once we finish gazing at the child in the manger, the church gently turns our attention to the place where the child grew, how where he learned to speak, where he learned to pray and learned to love as a family.
SPEAKER_00: If Christmas tells us that God Himself became human, the Feast of the Holy Family tells us where he chose to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Since arriving at St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine's, one of my deepest hopes has been to strengthen marriages and families.
SPEAKER_00: And I say that knowing full well that some of you, Christmas was not peaceful, not nostalgic, not joyful in the way that commercials promised it.
SPEAKER_00: I know this because I hear confessions and I sit in the confessional.
SPEAKER_00: I hear stories, I know that for some families, Christmas dinner can feel like a celebration, less like a celebration and more like a minefield.
SPEAKER_00: Carefully navigating conversations, histories, wounds, and tensions, hoping nothing explodes.
SPEAKER_00: For others, this Christmas was marked by grief, an empty chair at the table, a first Christmas without someone you love.
SPEAKER_00: And for some the season has been overshadowed by heavy decisions that need to be made.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps a crisis or a disappointment, a situation with no easy answer.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is precisely because of all of that that today's feast matters.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people say, Well, of course the holy family was holy.
SPEAKER_00: They had it easy.
SPEAKER_00: They had Jesus in their midst.
SPEAKER_00: But the very gospels tell us a different story.
SPEAKER_00: From the very beginning, nothing about the Holy Family's life was easy.
SPEAKER_00: There was no room in the inn.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was born in poverty, and almost immediately they were forced to flee for their lives, becoming refugees in a foreign land, hunted by political power, living with uncertainty and fear.
SPEAKER_00: The first Christmas the Holy Family spent was not calm and cozy, it was spent on the run.
SPEAKER_00: Today's gospel from Saint Matthew gives us a striking and sobering image of the Holy Family.
SPEAKER_00: Almost immediately after the joy of Christ's birth, danger appears.
SPEAKER_00: An angel warns Joseph in a dream, Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph obeys quietly, promptly, without hesitation.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing sentimental about this scene.
SPEAKER_00: The holy family becomes a family on the run, forced to leave their home, their land, their plans, in order to protect the life entrusted to them.
SPEAKER_00: The child who came to save the world enters not in safety but in vulnerability.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of God begins his life as a refugee.
SPEAKER_00: This gospel reminds us that holiness does not shield a family from hardships.
SPEAKER_00: Being close to God does not mean being spared from fear, uncertainty, or sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: The holy family's holiness is revealed not in comfort but in faithfulness, in Joseph's courage, in Mary's trust, and in their shared obedience to God's will, even when the road ahead is unclear and uncertain.
SPEAKER_00: For many families, this gospel feels uncomfortably familiar.
SPEAKER_00: There are seasons when family life feels fragile, when decisions must be made quickly, when the future feels uncertain, and when protecting what matters the most costs a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And yet this is precisely where God is present, guiding, sustaining, and redeeming.
SPEAKER_00: The flight into Egypt teaches us that a holy family is not one that avoids suffering, but one that moves through it together, listening for God's voice and trusting that he is at work even in exile, even in fear, even in disruption.
SPEAKER_00: This is a first lesson from today's feast.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness does not mean a family without problems.
SPEAKER_00: There is no such thing.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness means a family that keeps choosing love in the middle of all of them.
SPEAKER_00: Another misconception that I hear often is Mary and Joseph were saints.
SPEAKER_00: We're not, so we can't relate.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is far more demanding and far more hopeful.
SPEAKER_00: We are all called to be saints.
SPEAKER_00: That is not a bonus vocation for a few, it is a Christian vocation.
SPEAKER_00: And sainthood, as we see in the Holy Family, is not magic.
SPEAKER_00: It's not perfection.
SPEAKER_00: It's a series of faithful choices, often quiet ones, made day after day.
SPEAKER_00: Mary and Joseph did not have everything handed to them.
SPEAKER_00: They listened, they trusted, they obeyed.
SPEAKER_00: They chose God again and again every single day, even when they didn't fully understand the plan.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us a remarkable practical description of what holiness looks like in a family.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't talk about families that are always peaceful and happy, always emotionally balanced.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about families that choose, and that's the key word that I want you to take away from today.
SPEAKER_00: They choose kindness.
SPEAKER_00: Choose to be kind, choose to be humble, choose to be compassionate, gentle, patient, and you choose to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Paul assumes frustrations.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes that there will be conflict.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes that there will be deep hurts and wounds.
SPEAKER_00: What makes a family holy is not the absence of these things, but the repeated choice to respond differently.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the feast of the holy family becomes concrete.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness in the family is not about doing something dramatic, it's about choosing again and again and again one small act of love, holding your tongue back, asking for forgiveness, keeping your ego in check, showing patience, praying when you don't feel like it, staying when it would be easier just to withdraw.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the heart of it all.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Family would not be have been holy without the real presence of Christ at the center of it.
SPEAKER_00: For us, that presence is not symbolic, it is sacramental, it is real.
SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist is not one devotion among many.
SPEAKER_00: It is the source and summit of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: When Christ is at the center of a family, everything else falls into place.
SPEAKER_00: That's why coming to Mass as a family matters.
SPEAKER_00: That's why praying together each night as a husband and wife or as a family matters.
SPEAKER_00: That's why your personal battle against sin is never just personal.
SPEAKER_00: What you choose and how you live, how you pray or how you don't pray affects your family.
SPEAKER_00: Your relationship with God is not an isolated spiritual hobby.
SPEAKER_00: It is foundational to the stability and peace of your home.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of you grieving this Christmas, those who feel the ache of absence, here's a word of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Every time we receive the Eucharist, we are not only united to Christ, but to the whole body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven and earth touch in that very moment.
SPEAKER_00: The living and the dead are united.
SPEAKER_00: The empty chair is not the end of the story.
SPEAKER_00: This is why even families in crisis can be holy families.
SPEAKER_00: Even wounded families, even families that are grieving.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness is not the absence of pain, it is the presence of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the question I want to leave you with.
SPEAKER_00: One question, simple but demanding.
SPEAKER_00: What is the one concrete thing that you need to choose today to help make your family holier?
SPEAKER_00: Not ten things.
SPEAKER_00: One thing, one choice, one decision, one act of love that then opens the door to a wider relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because in a parish like ours, every family matters.
SPEAKER_00: Together we're one pilgrim family, moving towards life of God, the source of all families, the communion of saints.
SPEAKER_00: And so on this feast day of the Holy Family, may Mary teach us how to trust.
SPEAKER_00: May Saint Joseph teach us how to protect and to remain faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And may our Lord Jesus, present among us in the Eucharist, teach us how to love.
SPEAKER_00: Choose holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Choose to be on the side of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let holiness be your focus for 2026.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, if you let holiness be your focus, God's blessings will follow.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.