The Holy Family: Model For Us All

Reflection on the Catholic Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family  

December 28, 2025 (Year A)

On this Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Church invites us to contemplate the domestic life of the Savior and to hold up His family as the model for our own. The readings speak profoundly to the joys, duties, and trials of family life, reminding us that holiness is forged not in perfection but in fidelity, mutual respect, forgiveness, and trust in God's providence.

 First Reading: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14

The Book of Sirach offers timeless wisdom on honoring parents. God establishes parental authority as a reflection of divine order, and those who honor father and mother reap blessings: atonement for sins, answered prayers, and long life. Especially poignant is the call to care for aging parents with kindness, even when frailty tests patience: "My son, take care of your father when he is old... even if his mind fail, be considerate of him."

This reading challenges us to see family obligations not as burdens but as paths to holiness. In a culture that often marginalizes the elderly, Sirach reminds us that reverence for parents mirrors reverence for God Himself.

 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-5

"Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways." The psalm paints a beautiful image of family blessed by God: fruitful labor, a faithful spouse "like a fruitful vine," and children "like olive plants" around the table. This domestic prosperity flows from reverence for the Lord. Family thrives when rooted in faith.

 Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-21 (or shorter 3:12-17)

St. Paul urges us to "put on" the virtues of Christ: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and above all, love, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony." Forgiveness is central—"as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive." He addresses family roles with mutual submission in Christ: wives and husbands in love, children in obedience, fathers in gentle guidance.

Though some verses reflect the cultural context of the time, the heart of Paul's message is reciprocal love and peace rooted in Christ. Family becomes a "domestic church" when its members clothe themselves in these virtues.

 Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

The Gospel presents the Holy Family not in serene Nazareth but in crisis: fleeing as refugees into Egypt to escape Herod's murderous rage. An angel warns Joseph in a dream, and he obeys immediately—"he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt." Later, guided again by dreams, they return and settle in Nazareth.

This is no idealized portrait. The Holy Family faces danger, exile, uncertainty, and loss (echoing the slaughter of the Holy Innocents). Yet their response is swift obedience and trust. Joseph protects; Mary ponders and accompanies; the Child Jesus, though divine, submits to human vulnerability. Their holiness shines precisely in trial.

 A Unified Message for Today

Taken together, these readings reveal that family life is the ordinary crucible where extraordinary holiness is formed. Honor and care across generations (Sirach), virtues of Christ lived daily (Colossians), and radical trust in God's guidance amid hardship (Matthew) form the blueprint.

The Holy Family was not exempt from suffering—poverty, displacement, threats—yet they became holy through love, obedience, and fidelity. In our own families, marked by busyness, conflicts, illnesses, or separations, we are called to imitate them: to forgive quickly, to protect the vulnerable, to listen for God's voice in the night, and to make our homes places where Christ dwells.

 

Caution Against Politicizing the Holy Family

While the Gospel account of the Flight into Egypt powerfully illustrates the vulnerability of the Holy Family and God's providential care amid peril, it is important to resist efforts to instrumentalize this sacred event for contemporary political debates on immigration and deportation.

Some advocates claim that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were "refugees," "migrants," or even "illegal immigrants," directly equating their journey with modern undocumented border crossings. This analogy often falls short historically and theologically.

At the time of Christ's birth (around 6–4 BC), both Judea (under Herod the Great, a Roman client king) and Egypt were provinces within the same Roman Empire. Egypt had become a Roman province in 30 BC after Octavian's defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Travel between Judea and Egypt involved moving from one administrative region to another—comparable today to crossing from one U.S. state to another, such as New York to Pennsylvania—rather than crossing an international border into a foreign sovereign nation.

There were no modern immigration controls, passports, or visa requirements as we understand them. Roman citizens and subjects moved relatively freely within the Empire's provinces, especially along well-established routes like the Via Maris coastal road connecting Judea to Egypt. The Holy Family's flight escaped Herod's local jurisdiction (he ruled only Judea, Samaria, and Idumea), but they remained under Roman imperial authority. Thus, they did not enter Egypt "illegally" or as undocumented immigrants violating a foreign nation's laws.

Theologically, Matthew presents this event as fulfillment of prophecy ("Out of Egypt I called my son," Hos 11:1) and a parallel to Israel's exodus, emphasizing divine protection rather than a commentary on migration policy. While the Holy Family certainly experienced displacement and hardship—fleeing tyranny and becoming exiles in a foreign land—their situation aligns more closely with internal displacement or seeking safety within a shared political entity than with modern international refugee status or unauthorized border crossing.

Catholic teaching, including Pope Pius XII's Exsul Familia Nazarethana (1952), describes the Holy Family as the "archetype of every refugee family," highlighting their vulnerability to inspire compassion for those fleeing persecution today. The Church upholds the dignity of migrants, the obligation of nations to welcome those in grave need (to the extent possible), and the right of sovereign states to regulate borders. However, it does not equate the Holy Family's unique, divinely guided journey with endorsement of unrestricted immigration or dismissal of lawful borders.

In charity, we must care for the stranger (Mt 25:35) and address root causes of forced migration, but without distorting Scripture or history to advance partisan agendas. The Feast of the Holy Family invites us to imitate their trust in God, mutual love, and obedience—not to weaponize their story in cultural wars.

May we honor them by building families rooted in faith, welcoming the vulnerable with prudence and mercy, and praying for just solutions to the complexities of human mobility. 

Holy Family, pray for us.

As we close the Christmas season, may the Holy Family intercede for our families. May we welcome the Christ Child not only into mangers of sentiment but into the real, messy, beautiful reality of our daily lives together.

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—pray for us.

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