By DEB PIROCH
“Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. . . . And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering the house they found the Child with Mary His mother. And falling down, they adored him.”
The family is an earthly union that mirrors the Blessed Trinity. Christ is the center, held and nurtured by the loving arms of the Virgin, encircled by the protecting arms of St. Joseph. In imitating the Holy Family, we are choosing to follow the holiest of any saints. The Church also celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family the first Sunday after Christmas, which is still part of the Christmas season.
Because of St. Francis of Assisi, readers may have adopted the tradition he began of using a Christmas creche. But even if you do this at Christmas, an image of the Holy Family is certainly welcome the year ’round in a Catholic home. Sacramentals should be welcome: Mine is a carved Nativity statue, which sits next to a crucifix scene. There are many ways to prayerfully contemplate Christ’s earthly life and serve as sacramentals. Sacramentals help us form truer devotion to God, sorrow for our sins and inspire us to earn grace.
The Wanderer has printed here columns on St. Joseph, St. Nicholas, and St. Wenceslaus. In musing which saint to contemplate this Christmas, one can mark that Advent begins after the Feast of Christ the King in the liturgical calendar. But yet do we not all have the image of the Holy Family in the stable in Bethlehem in mind when we think of Christmas? What better way to celebrate the season and also honor our Lord and more than one saint, through the sacred unit through which He was born and raised, the Holy Family?
Every woman can relate to the Virgin, regardless of one’s state of life. She was the Immaculate Conception, as we just celebrated on the December 8. The Church does not place this holy day in the calendar by some accident. Her fiat enabled the great miracle of the Holy Ghost to go forward. She could have said no, but her only hesitation in the Gospel is fear, and asking the angel how this would happen, as she did not know man.
This same hesitation her soon-to-be husband revealed, too. St. Joseph felt when her pregnancy was known he should put her aside, not embarrass her, but not marry her. We assume Mary did not tell him, and perhaps she did not know what she could tell people. So, our Good Lord had an angel appear to St. Joseph, as well.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost….And she shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God is with us. And Joseph, rising up from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had commended him and took unto him his wife.”
Both were holy, and God asked great things of them. We are told God never gives us more than we can handle. But this is because He provides the rest. The Gospel narrative is a reminder that the help is there, but how often do we remember to ask Him for help? Look at the Baby Jesus in your Holy Family. Thank Him for being born. Request forgiveness for forgetting so often to thank Him. Don’t be too humble to adore Him or ask Him for help now.
What else did God provide Mary and Joseph? The Sacrament of Marriage: because a special bond was needed to provide the singular graces necessary to carry these and any two people through an entire worldly life together. Marriage might be possible without this bond, but one should never attempt it. Think of all those we’ve heard say erroneously they think marriage is but a “piece of paper.” A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by God to give grace, and we are so lucky to have them. Let’s use the Holy Family as a reminder to pray for family unity in our own families and the ability to hold close to God.
Look at Mary and recall how she and Joseph said yes to God, each according to God’s plan for each of them. Look at the image again and recall God sent the Archangel Gabriel to Mary, to tell her she had found favor with God. And we know that when the Wise Men left, and Herod began to spit anger because his lust for Christ’s Blood was thwarted, an angel appeared to Joseph again:
“And after they were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise and take the child and his mother and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee.”
Before Gabriel appeared to Mary, he also appeared to Zachary, the father of John the Baptist, to announce that he would be a father. But because his wife was elderly, and Zachary doubted this was possible, the angel announced he would therefore be struck dumb until his son was born. Angels, too, chose for God and not against Him. We must do endeavor every day to be the best friend, wife, mother, son, grandson, uncle, whatever you are in your family to those around you.
Don’t ever forget the angels. They are everywhere in the Bible. But how often do we ask them to intercede for us? St. Michael’s prayer against evil should be a daily prayer. But how often do we forget our guardian angels? Our faithful angels are at our sides, and we so rarely forget to invoke their help as God wished us to do. God even reminded us an extra time, in sending angels to accompany the shepherds, and give glory to the birth of the Christ Child.
“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people; for this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.”
The next time you hear “Gold, frankincense and myrrh,” think of the splendor of the angels at Christmas. Then use the phrase as a mnemonic, or a way to remind you to invoke your Guardian Angel when you look at that new Holy Family image you’ll be putting up somewhere special this holiday.
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