The Feast of the Holy Family, which was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and extended to the universal calendar by Pope Benedict XV in 1921, is celebrated today, Sunday, January 8, 2017. This is a day of true celebration for every Catholic as it is from Nazareth we come and in Nazareth we must live.
That is, each of us comes into the world as a member of a family.
Yes, I know.
The situation in which we find ourselves today is so disordered that far too many children (even one is too many, of course) come into the world by means of having been artificially conceived and then "raised" by one parent or two people of the same gender. The tragedy of divorce has robbed many children of the presence of their fathers or mothers early in life. Disasters of one sort or another can also deprive children of the natural family unit of a father and a mother and siblings. Contraception has robbed many families of the spiritual riches that are provided by the presence of large numbers of children.
All of that having been admitted, however, it is important to point out, especially on this great Feast of the Holy Family, that there is but one family that is the model for all families, that is, the Holy Family of Nazareth. The virtues that must be practiced by each family were exemplified to a perfect degree in the Holy Family of Nazareth, headed by Saint Joseph, who is the Patron of the Universal Church and the Protector of the Faithful, and given its motherly heart by his Ever-Virginal spouse, Mary Immaculate. Saint Joseph and Our Lady provided a home to the God Who become Incarnate in her Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of God the Holy Ghost at the Annunciation, teaching us that we are to provide a home to that same God-Man in our own families, whose very life must be centered upon First and Last Things at all times. Although every serious Catholic knows that this is true, a brief review of what this means certainly is appropriate on this great feast day within the Octave of the Epiphany during Christmastide.
Pope Leo XIII made this clear in the Apostolic Letter, Breve Neminem Fugit, June 14, 1892, in which he instituted this feast, which was first celebrated in 1893:
When God in his mercy determined to accomplish the work of man's renewal, which same had so many long ages awaited, he appointed and ordained this work on such wise that its very beginning might shew to the world the august spectacle of a Family which was known to be divinely constituted; that therein all men might behold a perfect model, as well of domestic life as of every virtue and pattern of holiness: for such indeed was the Holy Family of Nazareth. There in secret dwelt the Sun of Righteousness, until the time when he should shine out in full splendour in the sight of all nations. There Christ, our God and Saviour, lived with his Virgin Mother, and with that most holy man Joseph, who held to him the place of father. No one can doubt that in this Holy Family was displayed every virtue which can be called forth by an ordinary home life, with its mutual services of charity, its holy intercourse, and its practices of godly piety, since the Holy Family was destined to be a pattern to all others. For that very reason was it established by the merciful designs of Providence, namely, that every Christian, in every walk of life and in every place, might easily, if he would but give heed to it, have before him a motive and a pattern for the good life.
To all fathers of families, Joseph is verily the best model of paternal vigilance and care. In the most holy Virgin Mother of God, mothers may find an excellent example of love, modesty, resignation of spirit, and the perfecting of faith. And in Jesus, who was subject to his parents, the children of the family have a divine pattern of obedience which they can admire, reverence, and imitate. Those who are of noble birth may learn, from this Family of royal blood, how to live simply in times of prosperity, and how to retain their dignity in times of distress. The rich may learn that moral worth is to be more highly esteemed than wealth. Artisans, and all such as are bitterly grieved by the narrow and slender means of their families, if they would but consider the sublime holiness of the members of this domestic fellowship, cannot fail to find some cause for rejoicing in their lot, rather than for being merely dissatisfied with it. In common with the Holy Family, they have to work, and to provide for the daily wants of life. Joseph had to engage in trade, in order to live; even the divine hands laboured at an artisan's calling. It is not to be wondered at, that the wealthiest men, if truly wise, have been willing to cast away their riches, and to embrace a life of poverty with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. (Pope Leo XIII, Breve Neminem Fugit, June 14, 1892.)
The Divine Office for Matins today elaborates on Pope Leo XIII's words of Catholic truth:
From the foregoing it is evident how natural and fitting it was that devotion to the Holy Family should in due time have grown up amongst Catholics; and once begun, that it should spread far and wide. Proof of this lieth first in the sodalities instituted under the ínvocation of the Holy Family; then in the unique honours bestowed upon it; and above all, by the privileges and favours granted to this devotion by our predecessors to stimulate fervour and piety in its regard. This devotion was already held in great esteem in the seventeenth century. Widely propagated in Italy, France, and Belgium, it spread over almost the whole of Europe; thence, crossing the wide ocean, through Canada it made is way in the Americas, and finding favour there, became very flourishing. Indeed, among Christian families, nothing more salutary nor efficacious can be imagined than the example of the Holy Family, where are to be found all domestic virtues in perfection and completeness. When Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are invoked in the home, charity is likely to be maintained in the family through their example and heavenly entreaty; a good influence is thus exerted over conduct; the practice of virtue is thus incited; and thus the hardships which are everywhere wont to harass mankind, are both mitigated and made easier to bear. To increase devotion to the Holy Family, Pope Leo XIII prescribed that Christian families should be consecrated thereto. Benedict XV extended the Mass and Office to the whole Church. (The Divine Office, Feast of the Holy Family.)
Yes, each of our families must reflect the heroic virutes and sanctity of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Prayer and Charity Obedience and Humility and Chastity and Holy Poverty
Each member of the Holy Family was obedient to the will of God the Father, the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. We must be obedient to God's Holy Will at all times, being particularly attentive to pray for the wisdom and discernment to know what He wants of us at particular times in our lives and to be humbly submissive to the teaching authority of His Holy Church.
Our Lady was the first to do the will of God, obeying His Holy Will for her when she consented to be His own Mother as she spoke the following words to Saint Gabriel the Archangel:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. (Luke 1: 38.)
Our Lady always did the will of God. Always. She prays for us to do the will of God so that we might have the same spirit of resignation and perfect abandonment to God's Holy Will that she had throughout the course of her life on earth and now in Heaven, from which she has descended to men to teach them to be obedient to God and to use the instruments of Mercy He has provided them, especially by means of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart and by her own Most Holy Rosary. Our Lady wants us to be able to make our very own these words of hers:
Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. (John 2: 5)
Those words of Our Blessed Mother, spoken at the wedding feast in Cana, must be kept close to our own hearts, consecrated as they must be to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, speaks to us through His Holy Church.
Our Lord told us that we must honor His Most Blessed Mother not merely because she had given Him birth and had nursed Him, but because she had done the Will of His Co-Equal Father in Heaven:
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother. (John 2: 5)
Our Lady was perfectly and humbly submissive to God's Will at all times, never seeking to be recognized as the equal in authority to her Most Chaste Spouse, Saint Joseph, who was the head of the Holy Family although he was the least of its members in the Order of Grace. Our Lady was content to be the ever-Virginal wife of Saint Joseph, to whom she was so tenderly devoted and obeyed so perfectly and without complaint, and the All-Holy Mother of the very God Who had been enfleshed by the power of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, in the tabernacle of her Virginal and Immaculate Womb.
Saint Joseph was also wholly obedient to God's Will, forsaking his claim to biological fatherhood in order to be the foster-father of the Child Jesus. Saint Joseph shows all fathers, therefore, how they must deny themselves in big things and small things, working without complaint as they provide for the needs, both spiritual and temporal, of their families, seeking to foster the very life of the Holy Family of Nazareth in their own homes with joy and with much tenderness and love.
Indeed, children must be taught that Saint Joseph is a model for priests and consecrated male religious just as Our Lady is the model par excellence for consecrated female religious. Young boys and young men should see in Saint Joseph's manly example of self-denial and perfect obedience to the will of God a model and a guide for their own pursuit of the religious life. The fostering of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated religious life is one of the most important duties of parents. Saint Joseph will help young boys to be shielded from the world and worldly desires in order to seek to aspire to the higher calling, that is, the priesthood or the consecrated religious life, being ever ready, of course, to help them become the best husbands and fathers after his own saintly example of silence and justice and moderation if they choose to enter into the married state.
There is not a word of Saint Joseph's recorded anywhere in the New Testament. Our beloved Saint Joseph simply did God's will at once:
Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. 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 thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying:Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. (Mt. 1: 20-24.)
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, To be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. (Luke 2: 4-5)
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. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.
Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene. (Mt. 2: 13-23.)
Saint Joseph, our friend and protector, the patron of the dying, shows us how to accept God's Holy Will promptly and quietly, never once questioning Our Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier. Never once.
Consider this beautiful description, written by Pope Leo XIII, of the virtues of Saint Joseph:
The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron of the Church, and from which the Church looks for singular benefit from his patronage and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of Mary and that he was reputed the Father of Jesus Christ. From these sources have sprung his dignity, his holiness, his glory. In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honor, but also, by virtue of the conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as His father among men. Hence it came about that the Word of God was humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him, and that He rendered to him all those offices that children are bound to render to their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the obligation which nature lays upon the head of families, so that Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus. Now the divine house which Joseph ruled with the authority of a father, contained within its limits the scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the most holy Virgin is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme throes of the Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the firstborn of Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are his brothers. And for such reasons the Blessed Patriarch looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided specially to his trust -- this limitless family spread over the earth, over which, because he is the spouse of Mary and the Father of Jesus Christ he holds, as it were, a paternal authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ.
You well understand, Venerable Brethren that these considerations are confirmed by the opinion held by a large number of the Fathers, to which the sacred liturgy gives its sanction, that the Joseph of ancient times, son of the patriarch Jacob, was the type of St. Joseph, and the former by his glory prefigured the greatness of the future guardian of the Holy Family. And in truth, beyond the fact that the same name -- a point the significance of which has never been denied -- was given to each, you well know the points of likeness that exist between them; namely, that the first Joseph won the favor and especial goodwill of his master, and that through Joseph's administration his household came to prosperity and wealth; that (still more important) he presided over the kingdom with great power, and, in a time when the harvests failed, he provided for all the needs of the Egyptians with so much wisdom that the King decreed to him the title "Savior of the world." Thus it is that We may prefigure the new in the old patriarch. And as the first caused the prosperity of his master's domestic interests and at the same time rendered great services to the whole kingdom, so the second, destined to be the guardian of the Christian religion, should be regarded as the protector and defender of the Church, which is truly the house of the Lord and the kingdom of God on earth. These are the reasons why men of every rank and country should fly to the trust and guard of the blessed Joseph. Fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins at the same time find in him the model and protector of virginal integrity. The noble of birth will earn of Joseph how to guard their dignity even in misfortune; the rich will understand, by his lessons, what are the goods most to be desired and won at the price of their labor. As to workmen, artisans, and persons of lesser degree, their recourse to Joseph is a special right, and his example is for their particular imitation. For Joseph, of royal blood, united by marriage to the greatest and holiest of women, reputed the father of the Son of God, passed his life in labor, and won by the toil of the artisan the needful support of his family. It is, then, true that the condition of the lowly has nothing shameful in it, and the work of the laborer is not only not dishonoring, but can, if virtue be joined to it, be singularly ennobled. Joseph, content with his slight possessions, bore the trials consequent on a fortune so slender, with greatness of soul, in imitation of his Son, who having put on the form of a slave, being the Lord of life, subjected himself of his own free-will to the spoliation and loss of everything.
Through these considerations, the poor and those who live by the labor of their hands should be of good heart and learn to be just. If they win the right of emerging from poverty and obtaining a better rank by lawful means, reason and justice uphold them in changing the order established, in the first instance, for them by the Providence of God. But recourse to force and struggles by seditious paths to obtain such ends are madnesses which only aggravate the evil which they aim to suppress. Let the poor, then, if they would be wise, trust not to the promises of seditious men, but rather to the example and patronage of the Blessed Joseph, and to the maternal charity of the Church, which each day takes an increasing compassion on their lot. (Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries, August 15, 1889.)
Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man in His Most Blessed Mother's Virginal and Immaculate Womb, was always humbly obedient and submissive to the will of His Co-Equal Father, teaching us that we like Him, must be obedient to the Father even unto death, death on the Cross:
Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 6-11.)
I cannot of myself do any thing. As I hear, so I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 5: 30)
But I said unto you, that you also have seen me, and you believe not. All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day. And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day. (John 6: 36-40.)
And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast; and kneeling down, he prayed, Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done. (Luke 22: 41-42.)
Our Lord, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity through Whom all things were made, submitted Himself to the parental authority of His own creatures, teaching us that we must be humbly submissive to all lawful and duly constituted authority in all things that do not pertain to sinful commands. Our Lord could have become Man in any manner of His choosing. He chose to become Incarnate in the Virginal and Immaculate Womb of His Most Blessed Mother and to subject Himself to her authority and to that of the head of the Holy Family, Saint Joseph. Our Lord was teaching us that all human institutions have a visible head and a hierarchy. This little fact has been distorted by the Orthodox and lost on Protestants, most of whom, save for some "Anglo-Catholics" who have a view of hierarchy similar to that of the Orthodox, who contend that the "church" is amorphous mass of believers, an invisible reality, if you will, and that she has no visible head on earth. Au contraire. Our Lord was teaching us right in the Holy Family that every human institution is meant to have a hierarchy and a visible head.
Our Lord also taught us humility. Although the very trees of the earth were made through Him, He had learn in His Sacred Humanity to do work with the wood of those trees with His own holy hands, which themselves would be placed onto wood and nailed into place thereupon by means of our sins. Our Lord had to learn from Saint Joseph to do those things as Man that He had ordained as God to be done. This should serve as a salutary example to children: Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh, had to learn how to do things as Man, submitting Himself to the human expertise of His own foster-father to work with His own hands on the very material that was created through Him, through whom all things were made, visible and invisible.
The Holy Family teaches us about the centrality of prayer to the domestic cell of the Church. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph prayed. So must we. They observed silence in the home, not engaging in frivolous talk or activities. Oh, they enjoyed each other's company, showing us that a family is not meant to be a source of misery, as the wretched Albigenses and the Jansenists (and their contemporary descendants today) believe. The family is meant to be a source of joy. Yes, joy lived in the spirit of Holy Poverty, wherein family members are detached from the acquisition and accumulation and retention of the things of this world for the sake of living luxuriously and/or to "prove" to others how "successful" they are in material terms. The Holy Family lived in Holy Poverty, having enough of the things of this world to provide for their necessities, each member placing their treasures in the things of Heaven, keeping First and Last Things first and foremost.
So must it be in each of our families.
Indeed, the perfect bond of love that united the Holy Family on earth and unites them for all eternity in Heaven is summarized in the following excerpt from Chapter Three of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, part of which is read as the Lesson for today's Holy Mass:
Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection: And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as it behoveth in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter towards them. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but in simplicity of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ. For he that doth wrong, shall receive for that which he hath done wrongfully: and there is no respect of persons with God. (Col. 3: 12-25.)
Can we do any less in our own families?
Implementing the Lessons of Nazareth
Knowing all of this is one thing. Doing it in our families is quite another.
We must begin by recognizing that each of us has come from a family. As the families we came from were not constituted by the Virginal and Immaculate Most Holy Mother of God and her Most Divine Son and the just and quiet man of the House of David, Saint Joseph, there were bound to be problems in our own families as we were growing up. That is, the vagaries of fallen human nature produce impatience, misunderstanding, pettiness, jealousies, quarrels, and many other problems. The pull of the popular culture and the influences exercised by those we permit in our lives who do not love God as He has revealed Himself exclusively through His true Church can produce homes wherein there are family members who will go to Holy Mass on Sundays and might even pray the Rosary together occasionally but who are otherwise completely uninterested in pursuing a life of sanctify.
The example of the Holy Family must inspire us to pursue lives of sanctity, of living penitentially, of striving for Heaven with every beat of their hearts as those hearts are consecrated to Jesus through Mary, exclaiming frequently during the day: "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you! Save souls!" "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us now and in death's agony." We must pray at least one set of the mysteries of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary with our family members as we kneel before an image of Our Lady--or of the Holy Family. The Holy Family lived in the world, but they were not of the world. The same must hold true for us.
We must be earnest about forming our children to love the Holy Faith, immersing them first and foremost in a love of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the unbloody re-presentation of the Son's one Sacrifice of Himself to the Father in Spirit and in Truth in atonement for our sins. Daily Mass, offered, of course, by true bishops and true priests in the catacombs where no concessions are made to conciliarism or to the nonexistent legitimacy of its false shepherds, must be the essence of the lives of the family. And while it may not be possible in many parts of the world at present to get to a true offering of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition, those who are in such an isolated area can make it a priority for them to pray to move to a place where they can get to Mass on a daily basis.
Sure, it may not be possible for a father to accompany his family to daily Mass at all times. The mother and the children, however, should use the opportunity God is providing to them if they live near enough to get to Holy Mass in the catacombs to do so. Going to the daily offering of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition in those areas where it is available without any concessions made to conciliarism should be as second nature to a child as the rest of his daily routine.
I remember back on September 27, 2004, when we were passing through Phoenix, Arizona, en route from California to New Jersey (during our "resist and recognize" days) and missed Holy Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church there, not realizing that a 10:00 a.m. Mass that Monday had been changed to a 7:30 a.m. Mass because of a retreat for deacons. Lucy cried and cried and cried. Despite the external "irregularities" of our own situation as a family that lives in a motor home, our daughter has had the stability of assisting at daily Mass (or what we thought was a true offering of daily Mass) almost every day of her life. And while there are a handful of times during the course of a year when we will miss daily Mass because of some problem with the motor home or my own fatigue while driving long distances, Lucy, who only cries now when she doesn't get her way immediately (a trait that must have skipped several generations), is very disappointed. So are we. Why would anyone want to miss Calvary when Its unbloody re-presentation is made available in his area at a time when there are so few true offerings of the Mass.
Similarly, the Holy Family's example of family prayer (and the Mass, after all, is the perfect prayer) must impel us to spend time as a family before the Real Presence of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. There's an old Irish limerick that goes something like this:
"Every time you pass by a Catholic Church make sure you go into visit. That way when you die, God won't say, "Who is it?"
Even if it is arriving a half hour early before Mass or staying a half hour or so after Mass, even if this is done once or twice a week, we accustom ourselves to being in God's very Real Presence. There are infused graces that are given to souls who spend time in Eucharistic adoration, whether in front of a tabernacle or in front of Our Lord solemnly exposed in a monstrance. All of the angels and saints are there with us mystically, including Our Lady and Saint Joseph. Why would we not want to make the time to teach our children about the simple fact that to gain the possession of Heaven for all eternity we must want to spend time here on earth where Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is present sacramentally and where His Most Blessed Mother and His foster-father and all of the angels and saints are present mystically?
Images of the Holy Family and of the saints should be in every room of our homes. Every room should feature a Crucifix. Our homes, enthroned as they should be to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, should have the "enthronement picture" displayed prominently for all to to be reminded that those two Hearts beat as one, and ours are meant to beat as one with Theirs. What a true joy it is to live the Faith, to shut out the noise and the agitation of the world, not to have one's senses bombarded the pollution of television and radio and the horror of the rot of what passes for popular culture invading one's living space, to be enthralled with the things of Heaven, our one and only true home. What a true joy it is to carry the Cross of the Divine Redeemer. What a joy it is to know that we have a Most Blessed Mother who wants to pray for us "now and the hour our death," who is pleading for us to pray Rosaries to be ever-faithful to her Fatima Message.
Our children do not need to be "entertained" by the popular culture. They need to fall in love with the Faith, to be inspired by having stories about the lives of the saints read to them before then can read, preparing them to read more about the lives of the saints as they grow older. They need to learn to live without being immersed in material acquisitiveness, without wanting to be "successful" or "popular" as the world counts success or fame. They need to learn to love the Franciscan spirit of Holy Poverty, being detached from the things, people and places of this world, while at the same time being taught the Dominican spirit of order and discipline in their daily lives, starting with the orderliness of their prayer lives (their Morning Offering, the Angelus, Night Prayers--all in addition to the Rosary). We are here on a pilgrimage. It is no so that the one with the most "toys" wins. Hardly.
All of this having been noted, it is also important to point out that our little Nazareths are not ends in and of themselves. Each member of a family must work hard to make sure that they have a happy reunion in Heaven. A family cannot become an "idol" in which those who stray from the Faith and/or engage in unrepentant sinful practices are indemnified, if not defended, against all temporal and eternal consequences for their actions. True love is an act of the will, the ultimate expression of which is the salvation of the souls of others. We love no one authentically if we do or say anything, whether by omission or commission, which interferes in any way with the salvation of his immortal soul. People can extol nations and national mythologies over God and His true Church. They also extol families and family members over God and His true Church. We must put God above all creatures, loving others as He loves us, which is to say willing their eternal good and doing nothing that puts into jeopardy the salvation of the immortal souls.
Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself put it this way:
And as a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. (Matthew 10: 36-40)
This means, among many other things, that parents have to say "no" to their children, especially as it pertains to various "games" or "toys" and to bad company or other bad influences that could have a most deleterious influence on the salvation of their immortal souls. Pope Pius XI pointed this out in Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929:
It is no less necessary to direct and watch the education of the adolescent, "soft as wax to be moulded into vice,"[58] in whatever other environment he may happen to be, removing occasions of evil and providing occasions for good in his recreations and social intercourse; for "evil communications corrupt good manners."
More than ever nowadays an extended and careful vigilance is necessary, inasmuch as the dangers of moral and religious shipwreck are greater for inexperienced youth. Especially is this true of impious and immoral books, often diabolically circulated at low prices; of the cinema, which multiplies every kind of exhibition; and now also of the radio, which facilitates every kind of communications. These most powerful means of publicity, which can be of great utility for instruction and education when directed by sound principles, are only too often used as an incentive to evil passions and greed for gain. St. Augustine deplored the passion for the shows of the circus which possessed even some Christians of his time, and he dramatically narrates the infatuation for them, fortunately only temporary, of his disciple and friend Alipius. How often today must parents and educators bewail the corruption of youth brought about by the modern theater and the vile book! (Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929.)
Children who are raised in a family that attempts to image the Holy Family of Nazareth will, despite the vagaries of fallen human nature, come to be Catholics who seek out the Mercy of the Divine Redeemer readily in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance and who will give forgiveness to all others without counting the cost. Children who are raised in a family that attempts to image the Holy Family of Nazareth will not seek their salvation in naturalism and naturalist "saviours" of the false opposites of the naturalist "right" and the naturalist "left." Children who are raised in a family that attempts to image the Holy Family of Nazareth will come to view the world always and usually pretty clearly through the eyes of the true Faith, recognizing that this might be the very night upon which they own lives will be demanded of them:
And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer. But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. Now if God clothe in this manner the grass that is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more you, O ye of little faith? And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands. (Luke 12: 16-35.)
Children who grow up in a family that has attempted to image the Holy Family of Nazareth will honor their fathers and their mothers throughout as long as they, the children, are alive, seeking always to pass on to others, whether in the priesthood or religious life or in their own families, the life-giving and truly liberating truths of the Holy Faith, as I noted so some years ago now:
Children honor their fathers and mothers by being ready and docile students, learning about the Faith and temporal matters from their first and principal educators, that is, their parents.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by performing the household chores that are assigned to them, offering all of their daily penances to the Blessed Trinity as the consecrated slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by being attentive and well-behaved at Mass, remembering that they are in God's house and that they represent their parents to others, desiring to demonstrate how much the honor their parents by respecting their authority outside of the home, especially during Holy Mass.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by coming to understand that their parents have an obligation to shield them from bad company and from those aspects of popular culture that are deleterious to their immortal souls.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by listening to their advice as they grow into their teenaged years, understanding that their parents care about the welfare of their souls unto eternity and want them to choose a state-in-life that will help them get home to Heaven.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by listening to their advice as to where to study after their days in a traditional Catholic school or their home-schooling days have been completed.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by keeping close to them, spiritually and temporally, after they have moved out on their own, remembering them in their prayers, especially in the Memento for the Living during the Canon of the Mass and in our daily Rosaries, and having Masses said for them while they are alive.
Children honor their fathers and mothers by having Masses said for their deceased parents until they themselves have been called to the moment of their own Particular Judgments. None of us knows for sure whether we have gained a plenary indulgence for another soul (and those of us who are totally consecrated to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart give her all of the merits we earn during the course of a day, including those that are assigned to our indulgenced acts) as none of us knows for sure whether we are really completely detached from our past sins. Thus, we keep praying Rosaries and having Masses said for them for as long as we ourselves are alive. My own late parents' immortal souls are uppermost in my prayers every day.
Children who remain in the world after they leave home honor their fathers and mothers by providing them with the physical care and financial support that they might require in their elderly years. This is not an obligation of the civil state or of the Shady Rest Nursing Home. This is an obligation of the Fourth Commandment. Children are required to give back to their parents the same physical care and financial support that their parents gave to them when they were totally dependent upon them as newborns--and throughout the course of their tender years--for food, shelter, clothing, love, and spiritual nourishment.
Pope Leo XIII's encyclical letter, Exeunte Iam Anno, December 25, 1888, explained the Catholic attitude that must permeate every aspect of our lives, starting, of course, in our own families:
We must therefore strive diligently that after beginning well we may also end well, that the counsels of God may be both understood and put in practice. The obedience shown to the Apostolic See will then be full and perfected, if it be joined with Christian virtue, and thus lead to the salvation of souls -- the only end to be sought for, which will also abide forever. In the exercise of Our high Apostolic office, bestowed upon Us by the goodness of God, We have many times, as in duty bound, undertaken the defense of truth, and have striven to expound particularly those doctrines which seemed to be most useful to all, in order watchfully and carefully to avoid the dangers of error. But now, as a loving parent, We wish to address all Christians, and in homely words to exhort all to lead a holy life. For beyond the mere name of Christian, beyond the mere profession of faith, Christian virtues are necessary for the Christian, and upon this depends, not only the eternal salvation of their souls, but also the peace and prosperity of the human family and brotherhood.
<p align="justify" style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 40px; font-family: Garamond, Perpetua, "Times New Roman", serif