Perhaps You Need To Change Your Thinking on the Holy Family

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. No, we cannot meet the standard they set, but we can strive for it. As Our Lord said, Be you therefore perfect, ... (Matthew 5:48a)

From Aleteia

By Kathleen N. Hattrup

For some of us, the Holy Family of Nazareth can be discouraging. We could never live up to their standards!

perfect mother, God-made-a-child, and a father who is so holy the Bible simply describes him as "just" -- none of us could ever reach that standard in our own families.

Thinking of the Holy Family of Nazareth is, for some of us, more discouragement than inspiration. While their family exuded joy and gratitude, ours marinate in bad moods and bickering.

And even if their daily lives do seem very similar to ours -- work, laundry, dishes -- still, they are so different from us.

If that's your way of thinking on this feast day, add just one word to your mental conversation.

Not just model and inspiration, but font.

A font of grace

The Holy Family is not principally (or not only) a model, but a font, a source of grace.

This is good news because when seeing them as a model only, then all the ways that we don't match the pattern are discouraging (the screaming about homework, the name calling, the bickering, the xxx ...).

But they are not just an instrument of grace by showing us how it's done. They are an instrument of grace by giving us what we need to do it. By going to them, we receive.

Since they are font/source, they are the solution to the ways that we don't match (and thus lack their joy).

Isn't that great?

Today, as we listen to how Joseph protected the Holy Family from Herod, consider all the Herods we have inside trying to harm Jesus (and ourselves) in our souls. Then call on the Holy Family to protect us from those dangers.