Feast of the Holy Family
Holy Family, Pray for Us!
“Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ’s life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God’s Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually we may even learn to imitate him.
“Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel …” (From the second reading of the Office of Readings, Liturgy of the Hours, for the Feast of the Holy Family).
Art: Holy Family: Mary, Joseph and child Jesus, Claudio Coello (1642-1693), undated, PD-US author’s term of life plus 100 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.