Growing up, so many of my favorite television shows focused on the family unit. Shows like Family Matters, Full House, Home Improvement, 7^th Heaven. I even would watch reruns of those classic television shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch, and Leave it to Beaver. Why was I – and likely why were so many of you – drawn to televisions shows like this? I think the answer is that all of them showcased different aspects of family life and they gave us examples of families that we could relate to.

Each week we saw these make-believe families come together to figure out a solution to a problem, to handle a difficult situation with love and some occasional humor, to walk together in the ups and downs of life, to jeer and jab at each other in order to build character. Even in the midst of the fights they sometimes portrayed, the families stuck together and made it through whatever challenges they faced. We saw in them a reflection of our own families or an example of a family that we wished ours was like. That’s what kept us coming back for more.

Every single one of us here today comes from a family. A unique group of individuals that we can’t run away from – as much as we often try to. They are people who know most of the intimate details of our lives. They have seen us on our best days and avoided us on our worst days. They have experienced heartbreak and tragedy with us and shared in the joys and triumphs with us. Some of them have been instruments of love, mercy, and grace…others have been the sources of suffering, pain, deep hurt. Whatever our families have looked like, whatever our relationship is with different members of our families, the reality is that each of those individuals has made us who we are today…whether in good or not so good ways.

Today, we commemorate another family; we remember the Family of Nazareth, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. On this Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family to remind us that Jesus was also a member of a family. That He, too, came from a line of people who weren’t always perfect. Many of them had their fair share of challenges.

When we look at the Genealogies of Jesus that are given to us in Scripture, we see how there were some interesting characters in His family line. It includes an adulterous king who committed murder to cover up his affair; it includes other kings who rejected relationship with God, who refused to follow His will, who neglected their God-given duties in order to bring themselves honor; it includes a man who sold his brother into slavery; it includes women who were not even Jewish but instead Canaanites, Moabites – people who were often looked down upon by members of the Jewish faith. But it also includes the righteous, it includes those who were seeking to follow the will of God, those who repented from past mistakes, who strove to be faithful to what God was asking of them. It includes Mary, conceived without sin in order to bear the Christ, and it includes Joseph, who accepted the challenge and great honor of raising the Son of God as his own. God chose this group of people, this collection of individuals united by blood to bring forth the very Savior of the world.

God uses this Holy Family to remind us of something about our own families. The story of the Family of Nazareth is one that is meant to inspire and encourage us. This feast is about finding holiness where we think there is nothing holy. What it tells us is that in those places where sin is rampant and the people are unworthy, it is there that we so often find God.

Today, the Lord is giving us an invitation to look at our families of origin, to consider how He is present within them. He is with those members of the family who are seemingly far from Him, those people who haven’t darkened the door of a Church in months, years, or decades. He is with the members of our families who are struggling with sin or addiction. He is with the members of our families who have endured pain and suffering, who are in the midst of the greatest battles of their lives. He is with those who are striving to be saints, those who are great examples of faith to us. He is with each of us as we seek to love those who make up our families. He is with all of us, whether we recognize Him or not.

The message of this Feast of the Holy Family is that God is at the heart of our families and that He can do incredible things in and through our families when we acknowledge His presence there. It is Jesus who made the Holy Family holy. It is the Word made flesh; it is the Author of life; it is God made man; it is Emmanuel, God-with-us who makes all things holy. He is the one we look to. He is the one we seek. He is the one we strive to follow.

Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was. They knew what gift God was bestowing upon them and upon the world. They absolutely knew that He was the Savior, that He was the One sent by God to bring liberation, to break the chains of sin and death. They knew that He was holiness itself and they embraced Him, they made Him the center of their lives…and it changed them forever. We are called to do the same. We are called to invite God into our hearts, into our families, into our world.

If we want true and lasting change, if we want to lead others to an encounter with God, if we want to be examples of faith to those around us, it has to start by welcoming Jesus into our hearts anew each and every day. Because like Mary and Joseph, when He is at the center of our lives, everything changes, we are transformed intrinsically, which is the whole point of the Christmas season.

Today, we look to the Holy Family, we ask for their intercession, ask them to pray for us and our families – may we entrust them with the care of our loved ones, placing them in the holy hands of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and asking them to watch over and protect all of us. May we always strive to imitate their example, rather than looking to those make-believe families that we see on television. Because it is this perfect family, this Holy Family that shows us how to authentically live our lives as Christians. They are the ones who will help lead us to Heaven.

Photo: Holy Family by Debby Hudson. Used under Unsplash license.