Holy Family in Nazareth
The Holy Family at Nazareth
is the model for the Christian family
THE SCRIPTURES sum up the hidden life of the Holy Family in Nazareth in a few words. That should not make us forget that there were weeks, months and years of ordinary family life with all its joys and anxieties and that this period was by far the longest in the life of Christ on earth.
Jesus was a true human child; it was the will of God that He grow in the same way and under many of the same circumstances as ourselves. It was Mary's part to do for Him all that a mother does for a child, in nursing, carrying, and dressing Him as well as in teaching Him to walk, to speak and to read. Mary also did the cooking, sewing and washing for the Family. Saint Joseph provided for the Family through his carpenter's trade. What his Family enjoyed or had to do without depended entirely on what he could provide through his labor. When Saint Joseph died, Jesus provided in the same way for His own and His Mother's needs.
This Holy Family, so observant of religious duties, so resigned to the will of God in the trials of their obscure life, is a perfect model for Catholic families. Joseph is a model of fatherly vigilance and care; Mary, an example of love, modesty and faith; Jesus, a model of obedience which children can admire and imitate.
'And He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was subject to them." LUKE 2:51
IT is THE WILL OF GOD that all men be saints. Since family life is the normal state for most men, God wills that there be married saints. The sanctity of many fathers and mothers of families has been publicly recognized.
SAINT THOMAS MORE (1478-1535), born in London, was elected at the age of 26 to the English Parliament. The next year he was happily married to Jane Colt; and, before her untimely death in 1511, four children were born. Soon after her death he married a widow, Alice Middleton. In public life Thomas More rose rapidly, becoming finally Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII. He fearlessly opposed Henry's attempt to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to have himself named supreme head of the Church in England. He understood well that his stand was ultimately going to result in his death; so, he spent his time preparing both himself and his family for that day, which came on July 6, 1535, when he was beheaded.
MOTHER ELIZABETH SETON (1774-1821) was born in New York City of non-Catholic parents. On January 25, 1794, she married William Seton. While with close friends in Italy, where her husband died, she came to know the Catholic faith, and was received into the Church in New York in 1805. She opened a school for girls in 1808 in Baltimore, and when she and the other women conducting the school formed a religious community, she was elected the superior of the new "Sisters of Charity." The hospitals, and schools operated by the more than ten thousand Sisters of Charity today owe their existence, under God, to her inspiration.
is the model for the Christian family
THE SCRIPTURES sum up the hidden life of the Holy Family in Nazareth in a few words. That should not make us forget that there were weeks, months and years of ordinary family life with all its joys and anxieties and that this period was by far the longest in the life of Christ on earth.
Jesus was a true human child; it was the will of God that He grow in the same way and under many of the same circumstances as ourselves. It was Mary's part to do for Him all that a mother does for a child, in nursing, carrying, and dressing Him as well as in teaching Him to walk, to speak and to read. Mary also did the cooking, sewing and washing for the Family. Saint Joseph provided for the Family through his carpenter's trade. What his Family enjoyed or had to do without depended entirely on what he could provide through his labor. When Saint Joseph died, Jesus provided in the same way for His own and His Mother's needs.
This Holy Family, so observant of religious duties, so resigned to the will of God in the trials of their obscure life, is a perfect model for Catholic families. Joseph is a model of fatherly vigilance and care; Mary, an example of love, modesty and faith; Jesus, a model of obedience which children can admire and imitate.
'And He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was subject to them." LUKE 2:51
IT is THE WILL OF GOD that all men be saints. Since family life is the normal state for most men, God wills that there be married saints. The sanctity of many fathers and mothers of families has been publicly recognized.
SAINT THOMAS MORE (1478-1535), born in London, was elected at the age of 26 to the English Parliament. The next year he was happily married to Jane Colt; and, before her untimely death in 1511, four children were born. Soon after her death he married a widow, Alice Middleton. In public life Thomas More rose rapidly, becoming finally Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII. He fearlessly opposed Henry's attempt to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to have himself named supreme head of the Church in England. He understood well that his stand was ultimately going to result in his death; so, he spent his time preparing both himself and his family for that day, which came on July 6, 1535, when he was beheaded.
MOTHER ELIZABETH SETON (1774-1821) was born in New York City of non-Catholic parents. On January 25, 1794, she married William Seton. While with close friends in Italy, where her husband died, she came to know the Catholic faith, and was received into the Church in New York in 1805. She opened a school for girls in 1808 in Baltimore, and when she and the other women conducting the school formed a religious community, she was elected the superior of the new "Sisters of Charity." The hospitals, and schools operated by the more than ten thousand Sisters of Charity today owe their existence, under God, to her inspiration.
posted by Big Heavy | 5:00 PM
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