From the Desk of Father Nathan

A Message from Father Nathan

My dearest people who are all close to my heart!

Lots of love, blessings, and prayers to you all.

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

This week we are going to celebrate the Holy Family Feast. The Feast of this Holy Family is not just about The Holy Family, but about our own families too. The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the model of all Christian families, and for domestic life in general.

Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. This is called “domestic church” or the “church in miniature”.

The Holy Family is the name given to the family unit of Jesus:

The Divine Son of God Jesus,

his mother Mary,

and his foster-father Joseph.

We know very little about the life of the Holy Family through the Canonical Scriptures.

They speak of the early years of the Holy family, including the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, and the finding of Jesus in the temple.

Pope Paul VI reflected,

“Nazareth is a kind of school….How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth!”

He explained that there are three key lessons to learn from Christ’s childhood.

• First, it offered silence. “We need this wonderful state of mind,” the Pope said, to combat the pressures and noise of the world.
• Secondly, it was “a community of love and sharing”. Nazareth serves as “a model of what the family should be…..beautiful for the problems it poses and rewards it brings, in sum, the perfect setting for rearing children—and for this, there is no substitute”.
• Thirdly, it taught discipline. “In Nazareth, the home of a craftsman’s son, we learn about work and discipline it entails”. (Office of Reading, Dec 26) As Christian parents, we are called to model our own family life after the Holy Family in Nazareth.

By shaping our homes in the example of silence, community love, and discipline, we ensure that we are doing our part in creating a nurturing environment in which saints are made.

St. Jon Chrysostom urged all Christians to make each home a “family church” and in doing so, we sanctify the family unit.

Just how does one live out the Church in the family?

The best way is by making Christ and His Church the center of family and individual life. Ways to do this include: reading scripture regularly, praying daily, attending Mass at least on Sundays and Holy Day of Obligation, imitating the actions of the Holy Family, and so forth, all done together as a family unit.

The Holy Family Feast is a good time to remember the family unit and pray for our human and spiritual families. We also may take this feast to reflect on the value and sanctity of the family unit and to evaluate our own family life. In what ways may it be improved? What would Jesus, Mary, and Joseph do? Finally, we can use this feast to ask ourselves what are we doing to promote the family within our own cultures, neighborhoods, and communities?

God bless you all.

With lots of love and blessing.

Ever at your service.

—Fr. Sahayanathan Nathan