Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph 12/28/25

On the Feast of the Holy Family, attention is drawn to the simple and demanding truth that God created human beings for relationship. Life flourishes in communion—within families, the Church, and every community where people give and receive. Yet real relationships are complex. People bless and stretch one another; they can inspire growth or provoke wounds. Even so, the pattern of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph offers clarity: each member embraced a God-given role and sought the good of the others, even amid confusion, fear, and change.

The Gospel shows Joseph listening and obeying in concrete ways—rising in the night, fleeing to Egypt, returning when God directed. Mary’s yes continues through hidden years and public sorrow. Christ Himself pursues the Father’s mission with unwavering fidelity. This model does not erase difficulty; it shows how holiness is formed in the tensions of ordinary life. Each person carries a distinct responsibility before God, and that responsibility is enough for a lifetime.

The heart of the matter is responsibility and response. No one can control how others act, speak, or change. Control belongs to God; stewardship belongs to each person. The consistent question is, “What is my role today?” The answer requires prayerful listening—attuning the heart to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Failures will happen: poor timing, wrong tone, missed opportunities. What redeems those failures is a heart continually turned toward God, ready to repent, to learn, and to try again.

Judgment is simpler than many imagine. It will not hinge on whether others accepted love, but on whether love was truly offered. Did actions resemble Christ—truthful, patient, sacrificial, and free of manipulation? The grace of Christmas is the chance to begin again: to reexamine what is brought to marriage, family, work, and church, and to adjust toward charity. This is how households become holy, not by perfection, but by the daily choice to listen to God, to serve the good, and to love well, one decision at a time.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Created for communion, not isolation Real life is shared life. Human hearts are made to receive and to give, to be formed by a web of relationships that call forth patience, courage, and self-gift. Isolation shrinks the soul; communion stretches it toward God and neighbor. Holiness grows as people stay in the bonds of charity and keep showing up for one another. [20:59]
• 2. You control only your role The most freeing and demanding truth is that a person is responsible before God for what he or she can do, not for what others refuse to do. Prayer clarifies the next faithful step; resentment complicates it. Focusing on one’s role turns energy from fixing others to serving them, which is where grace meets effort. [24:35]
• 3. Obedience amid anxiety bears holiness Joseph obeyed in the dark, and Mary persevered through unforeseen trials. Obedience did not remove risk; it sanctified the way through it. When fear is met with trust and action, ordinary choices become altars where God’s will is welcomed. [25:28]
• 4. Love well, regardless of response The measure of a life is not how many people reciprocate, but whether love was real, wise, and persevering. Love refuses control, tells the truth, and gives without manipulating outcomes. Even when met with silence or resistance, such love remains the path of freedom and the standard of judgment. [27:47]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [11:18] - Gloria in the Highest
• [12:12] - Collect: Example of the Holy Family
• [19:27] - Gospel: Flight into Egypt
• [20:35] - Feast of the Holy Family
• [20:59] - Made for relationship and communion
• [22:08] - People: joy and challenge
• [23:55] - Discerning our role today
• [24:35] - We cannot force change
• [25:28] - Joseph’s anxious obedience
• [26:58] - Judgment: Did I respond like Him?
• [27:47] - Loving well without control
• [28:34] - Pivot from control to charity
• [56:34] - Final Blessing and Dismissal

Bible reading

- Matthew 2:13-23

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Observation questions

1. In Matthew 2:13-23, what specific commands does the angel give Joseph, and how does Joseph respond each time?
2. Which details in the passage signal urgency or danger (for example, “by night,” “flee,” “was afraid”), and what do those details reveal about Joseph’s situation?
3. “We can’t force change… We can only control the self.” What particular things were named as beyond a person’s control? [24:35]
4. “What is my role today?” How was this question connected to family life, the church community, and daily work? [23:55]

Interpretation questions

1. Joseph rises in the dark and moves his family more than once. What does this immediate obedience teach about trusting God when instructions involve risk and incomplete information? [25:28]
2. If “judgment is very simple… did I respond like Him?” how might that reshape the way one approaches hard relationships where outcomes cannot be controlled? [27:12]
3. If each person in a household has a God-given role (as with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph), how can embracing one’s role help a family move through confusion or fear without sliding into blame or control? [23:33]
4. Why is love that refuses manipulation described as the path of freedom? How does that align with the pattern seen in the Holy Family? [27:47]

Application questions

1. Where are you tempted to control someone (spouse, child, coworker, friend)? What would it look like this week to pivot from control to charity in that one place? [28:34]
2. Ask, “What is my role today?” Identify one concrete, small step you can take in the next 48 hours to fulfill it—at home, at work, or in church. [23:55]
3. Think of a recent moment when your timing or tone missed the mark. What did you learn, and how will you try again with a heart turned toward God? [26:22]
4. If the standard is not “Did they respond to me?” but “Did I love well?”, name one relationship and describe what loving well will look like this week—truthful, patient, sacrificial, without trying to manage outcomes. [27:47]
5. Where have you been isolating or withdrawing from communion? What is one step back toward shared life you can take—call, visit, shared meal, prayer, apology, or service? [20:59]
6. Where do you feel fear or anxiety right now? Like Joseph, what is one faithful action you can take while still feeling afraid? [25:28]
7. Do a quick review: marriage, family, work, church. What is one adjustment toward charity you will make before next Sunday? [28:14]