THE SEASON OF OUR SAVIOR'S BIRTH 2009 : CHRISTMAS DAY 3...FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY.........

As our celebration of the Holy Birth of Jesus the Christ, God's co-Eternal, Redeeming, Son continues on this third day of Christmas, we remember and honor The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, of Nazareth. The Holy Family at the heart of the Christmas event, are presented as the focus and model for family life in the world. The promised Messiah of God's Chosen People was phropcied to come from the House of David. Joseph and Mary, as the parents chosen by God the Father, provide assurance that long awaited prophecy is fulfilled with the Birth Jesus. Joseph was of the tribe of Judah in the House of David, and Mary was a blameless and devout Jewish woman Israelite. Their tribe and race confirm the authenticity of the Christ Child's ancestral origins, and denotes that the ancient, prophetic, scriptural, prophecy regarding God's Anointed One, who will be the Savior and Redeemer is fulfilled. From the manger in Bethlehem where the baby Jesus was born into the world through twelve years or more in their home in Nazareth, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, cared, loved, nurtured, and shared, for and with each other, the everyday realities of family life.
Mary and Joseph raised the boy Jesus to be a responsible child who grew into adulthood as a mature person. Jesus in their home together listened to and followed the good example of his parents. with the notable exception being getting lost from them in the Temple in Jerusalem at twelve years old. But then, that too, became a transition in the prophecy of salvation, as when they found him he tells his mother why should they have worried, he was in His Father's House.
The affection, warmth, and togetherness, experienced through the years by The Holy Family is the exemplary prototype for all family life in the believing community. Our families are well served to remember and emulate the example of Mary as a wife and mother; Joseph as a husband and father; Jesus, as a child interacting with his parents. On this Holy Family Christmas Day re-dedicate your family to the example and intercession of the first family in Catholic-Christian history, The Holy Family whose commitment and devotion to God and Family are ideally our own. Human Life is the most precious gift we possess. Faith in God is the essential seed in discovering the mystery of salvation. Family is the key to experiencing love. Whether you have a nuclear, single parent, adoptive, foster, blended, grandparental, or childless couple, FAMILY - find your way with the guidance of The Holy Family to the fullness of life, faith, and family, God is inviting you to share.........HAPPY CHRISTMAS-HOLY FAMILY DAY.........In The Light and Love, of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Fr. Troy