Holy Family Day (30/12)

Every last Sunday in December following the Nativity of Christ, Catholics celebrate Holy Family Day. When Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, devout Catholics remember and honor the Holy Family on December 30th.

The Holy Family is considered to be the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus and her husband – Joseph.

The most important social role of the family, associated with the harmonious coexistence of man and woman, based on mutual Love and respect for each other, where children are born and raised, is the basis of any society.

For Christendom, the model of the family is the Holy Family, in which the Savior was born, in which, as a baby, he was surrounded by the Love, warmth and care of his mother and her husband, who became the earthly father for Christ, who was immaculately conceived and appeared on Earth.

Sometimes images of the Holy Family are of a so-called expanded nature, when they include the closest relatives of the Virgin Mary: her mother Anna and her relative St. Elizabeth with her infant son John the Baptist. Elisabeth's husband – priest Zechariah is also depicted even less often among the Holy Family.

In their sermons on Holy Family Day, priests, addressing parishioners, urge them to remember the strength and significance of the family in the life of every person, the role of father and mother in raising a child using the example of the life path of the Virgin Mary and Joseph the Betrothed. Filled with Love, they set an example of wisdom, sacrifice, tolerance, the ability to understand each other against the backdrop of life's difficulties that they had to face.

Caring for the child, raising him, teaching him a craft, wise advice and personal example – what many today perceive as everyday difficulties was a blessed nature for the Holy Family. Precisely blessed, since they were not far-fetched values. Neither the Virgin Mary nor Joseph sought feat or glory. Their very path in life and the way they went through it became a feat, since it was an example of serving true values.

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