The simple household in the humble town of Nazareth shows us a model of the perfect family. This month provides the opportunity to go back to the roots of love, faith, and self-gift within our own families.

In Scripture, Nazareth and the time Jesus spent with his parents are not portrayed as grand experiences. There were no miracles recorded there, and Jesus did not preach publicly to large crowds. The Holy Family spent this time working, praying, and loving each other. God chose to come and dwell in the simple and the ordinary.

While we do not know many details about the life of the Holy Family prior to Jesus’ public ministry, we do know that they observed their faith with fidelity. They would have prayed together and served God and one another in every moment.  

As Father Francis Filas, S.J. notes in Reflections on the Life of Jesus, 

“Just as the Heart of Jesus was constantly united with His divinity, so were the hearts of Mary and Joseph so closely bound to God that their every action was a prayer.”

The Holy Family is the perfect model and example for our own families. In their example, we see love freely given, life lived as a prayer, and growth in faith alongside one another.  

The three members of the Holy Family are perfect, but that does not mean that their lives were without difficulty. They fled from Egypt, worked hard for all they had, and lived in obedience to God’s will. There is hope in recognizing that our own lives are not all that different.

Pope St. John Paul II said during his papacy, “The family, more than any other human reality, is the place in which the person is loved for himself and in which he learns to live the sincere gift of self.”

This month is a great opportunity to reflect on our own family units and consider the ways in which we may be imitating the Holy Family, as well as the ways in which we may be able to grow together – accepting mistakes and learning from them, striving to serve one another, practicing forgiveness, praying together and caring for the details that are essential to the good of the family.  

May we pray that this month our homes can be transformed into our own little Nazareths, where our families can be strengthened and become places of love, peace, faith, and sacrifice as we welcome God to dwell among us through the example of the Holy Family.

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