My sister gave me a picture of our family taken when we gathered for her son’s wedding — twenty-three people and not everyone was there. When we say “family” we tend to think of mother, father and two or three little ones gathered at their feet. This is actually the shortest period of being family. We are part of our family our whole lives long and the bonds that we build in childhood are the foundation of the future relationships. Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. (Ordinarily it is held on the Sunday between Christmas and New Years but since there is no such Sunday this year the feast has been moved to today.) We are tempted to have a romanticized image of Jesus playing at the feet of Mary and Joseph on this feast. But the Gospels relate his family continued to be part of his life even during his public ministry. And it was what he learned about being family — love, generosity and forgiveness — that forged the image of the Family of God including everyone that he preached and that we are called to live.
