Family Life: Value, Protect and Nurture

As Catholics celebrate the Christmas octave, the first Sunday of the season is set aside for the Holy Family. The Holy Family is needed now more than ever as it is constantly attacked by our culture.

St. John Paul the Great reminds us, "The family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity."

Through most of his ministry, Fulton Sheen would invoke the Holy Family, especially during the taping of his Emmy-winning show Life is Worth Living. Viewers would see him write the initials JMJ, which is short for Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph.

The family must be valued, protected, and nurtured.

The family has value. It is needed to build the “Domestic Church” that Lumen Gentium proclaimed. It reminds us that the parents “should, by their word and example, be the first preachers of the faith to their children

The family must be protected. The Second Vatican Council proclaims, “Preserve the warmth of the family, because the warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it." The family is being attacked by the snares of Satan, and we need faithful fathers to stand in the breach to protect their spouses and children.

The family must be nurtured. Pope Francis reminds us, "Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches." Faith can nurture the family when God is at the center.

St. John Chrysostom once preached that, “When husband and wife are united in marriage, they no longer seem like something earthly, but rather like the image of God Himself.” The goal of every family is to lead their spouse and children to heaven.

St. Paul gives us ways to nurture faith in family life. “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

He continues, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.”

The domestic church (the family) will help us look up to our goal, heaven.

Let us pray for all families to withstand the attacks from Satan and the corrupt culture. Let us step into the breach to protect this sacred institute that God has created.

Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, pray for us.