Feast of Holy Family 2024
Fr. Dwight Campbell
12/29/2024
Homily: Feast of Holy Family 2024
Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D., J.D.
Enjoying the peace and tranquility in the home, within the family, is a goal every family tries to achieve.
But this is not easily attained; it requires, first of all, the assistance of God’s grace – thus, the need for daily prayer; AND it takes effort/hard work, and cooperation between family members.
Living with others is never easy. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that we have a human nature that is fallen and inclined to sin: we often seek our own interests rather than others’, we are self-willed and insist on having our own way, we’re often impatient, prone to anger, etc.
In addition, we have different personalities; in fact, by nature men and women are different in how they think and approach things.
A friend of mine, Harry Williams, passed away unexpectedly from the Covid virus a couple of years ago.
Harry made his living practicing law, which he enjoyed; but his true happiness was found in his family – his wife, Georgette, and their seven children: their first child, Harry Junior, followed by six girls.
Every Christmas Harry would compose a family update letter – the “Williams Christmas Journal” – which he would send out with a Christmas card.
I loved reading them.
Harry’s 2013 letter was co-authored by his wife and children – many of whom were already married with their own children, and it addressed the differences between men and women. Here are just some of their many profound insights:
Women put things on the bottom step to take the next time they go upstairs. Men just step over everything on the bottom steps until they’re told to carry everything upstairs.
Men need a round of applause for emptying the dishwasher; women do it just because it needs to be done.
Men can drive without having to look at themselves in the mirror; women can’t.
Women have the ability to perform a verbal brain dump of their entire day when they get home. Men can remember only that their day went “fine.”
Men have seven items in the bathroom – toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shampoo, soap, deodorant, and a towel. Women have more than 50 items, all of which are “necessary.”
Harry’s 2002 letter was written when the children were young. It reflects the trials and tribulations of mom-and-pop with children, and is titled, “TOP commonly used expressions in our home this year”:
“Can I borrow your . . .” (It will never be returned – if it is, it will never look the same again)
“Who’s in the bathroom? Are you camping out in there?”
“Has anyone seen my shoes?” (or – gloves, book – you name it and it’s been misplaced)
And here’s my favorite:
“She touched me first!” This led to a new law . . . “You will not be allowed to touch anyone else for as long as you live.”
The primary goal in our lives is to grow in holiness i.e., to be saints, and get to Heaven. This is true especially for family members – husbands, wives and children.
We should all strive for the highest place in Heaven. Our degree of eternal happiness in Heaven will be in direct proportion to the degree of holiness we have attained in this life on earth; i.e., our merit.
And we know this takes great effort; because of our fallen human nature, pursuing a life of holiness and attaining true sanctity does not come easy. As I said earlier, it requires hard work and diligence.
In addition to having recourse to daily prayer for the assistance of God’s grace, AND striving daily to practice virtues – like charity, patience, gentleness, mercy and forgiveness, humility – God has given us the perfect model for family life: the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
This is the reason why the Church has us celebrate this beautiful feast on the Sunday following the Birth of Christ, our Savior: to encourage us to contemplate family life as it was lived out by the three holiest persons who ever walked the face of the earth: Jesus, the Son of God made man; the BV Mary; and St. Joseph.
The Church refers to the home as the domestic church – a miniature version of the Church at large.
As such, the family must be a place of prayer and worship of God.
Just imagine the habit of daily prayer, cultivated in an atmosphere of silence, that must have reigned in that holy house of Nazareth. God was first in their lives.
By contrast, family life today often tends to be quite hectic, and beset by a cacophony – a stream of never-ending sounds and images, with televisions, computers, cell phones – which can often be obstacles to prayer and meditation.
Couples tell me how difficult it can be to gather the family together for daily prayer: before and after meals, before bedtime, the family Rosary.
I am convinced that the family Rosary – in which we meditate on the mysteries of the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph – is an indispensable means for family members to imitate the lives of Christ, His Virgin Mother, and St. Joseph, the Guardian of the Redeemer, and thereby to grow in holiness.
Praying the Rosary each day in the family brings great peace and calm in the home, among family members. Pope John Paul II, in his letter on the Rosary, says that praying the Rosary enables family members to look at each other, to behold each other’s countenance – so important in our age when members of the family always seem to be rushing about, going in different directions.
Praying the daily Rosary in the family is a great way to keep children in the practice of the Faith. Meditating daily on the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph keeps them on the right course as they grow older. Many saints have come from families that prayed the Rosary daily.
On this Feast of the Holy Family I pray that all our families make attain peace and tranquility amid the hustle and bustle of family life, through meditating on those beautiful mysteries of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in order that all family members may become the saints that God calls us to be.