Feast of the Holy Family

Our Priest delivered a powerful homily yesterday on the feast of the Holy Family. God suprises us in some ways I think. From age to age he has constructed vignettes from which we may derive knowledge.

Fr Silvio's point was this: the family is a domestic parish. Because it is a domestic parish to grow it must consist of a father, a mother, and children. The domestic parish is a microcosm of the church community and therefore those things which occur at the parish must also occur in the home. Prayer and the scripture must be taught and said. A idealisation of community must be fostered and allowed to grow. In the family and in the parish we have the mission to evangelize and teach the faith. As Christians we must conform ourselves as closely as possible to the example set by Joseph, Mary and Jesus. There are those who would have us think that a deviation from this example is equal to if not superiour than that of the Holy Family. They are wrong precisely because they fail to follow a model which was conceived (for lack of a better term) by God.

This is why I stated that God has constructed this vignette of the Holy Family for the Sunday after Christmas. It shows that while the ministry of Christ began at a wedding it was already well underway at his birth.

Jhesu + Marie,

de Brantigny