THE BISHOP'S CROZIER: February is the month of the Holy Family

By Bishop James R. Golka

As we continue on this Jubilee Year of Hope, February is the month of the Holy Family and Pope Francis has urged that “every family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth.” (Amoris laetitia, 30)

Through the Holy Family, Christ has sanctified the family and has called all families to holiness and to participate in the saving mission of the Church. I would like to reflect upon four key areas in which the family is called to be at the service of building up the Church and bringing the joy and hope to the world.

A Community of Love and Life

The family is willed by God to be a community of love that also brings about and nurtures life.  The human person is created by God out of love and for love, and the family is the first and most important place that the human person comes to know and to live out the fundamental vocation of love. As St. John Paul II beautifully states, “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.” (“Redemptor Hominis,” 10) The family is called to reveal this self-giving love for which we were created and through which we experience the full meaning of life and that “man . . . cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”  (Vatican II, “Gaudium et Spes,” 24)

The family is also the “sanctuary of life” where through the love of spouses, life is both created and nurtured.  In a culture that is so dominated by the culture of death, the family is called to be the supreme witness and foundation of the culture of life.  In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the family is especially called to be a witness to the dignity of life at all stages, for the family “is truly the sanctuary of life: the place in which life — the gift of God — can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed.” (St. John Paul II, “Evangelium Vitae,” 92)

The Domestic Church

The family is also called the domestic Church, which means that the family has a critical and irreplaceable role to play in the life and mission of the Church. St. John Paul II summarizes this crucial mission of the family within the Church:  “In turn, the Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the Church to such a degree as to become a sharer, in its own way, in the saving mission proper to the Church: by virtue of the sacrament, Christian married couples and parents ‘in their state and way of life have their own special gift among the People of God.’ For this reason they not only receive the love of Christ and become a saved community, but they are also called upon to communicate Christ’s love to their brethren, thus becoming a saving community.” (“Familiaris Consortio,” 49) It is important to note that the family has two specific missions — to promote the salvation and holiness of every member of the family (a saved community) and to be a witness to the love and mercy of Christ through evangelization and Christian service (a saving community).  Therefore, by being a “church in miniature” the family continues, supports, and strengthens the mission of the Church at its most fundamental level.  

The Crucial Role of Parents

For the family to fulfill its mission as the domestic Church, it is important for parents to understand their role in sanctifying, teaching and governing the family which is an extension of their baptismal dignity as sharers in the mission of Christ as priest, prophet and king. Parents are called to sanctify the family by worshipping God through weekly Sunday Mass, participation in the sacraments, and fostering family and individual prayer. Parents are also the first educators of their children, especially in the way of the Christian faith.  “Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues.” (CCC, 2223) Finally, parents are to govern or order the family to promote virtuous living, harmony among members, and assure that a biblical worldview is both expressed and lived out. 

The Family as the First Seminary

The family as the domestic Church is also called to be the “first seminary” in that it is the primary place in which all vocations, both to marriage and family as well as priesthood and religious life, are discerned and fostered.  As St. John Paul II teaches, “Christian parents, demonstrating a loving care for their children from their earliest years, communicate to them, by word and example, a sincere and lived-out relationship with God, made up of love, fidelity, prayer and obedience.  In this way, parents encourage the holiness of their children and render their hearts docile to the voice of the Good Shepherd, who calls every man to follow him and to seek first the kingdom of God.  In the light of this horizon of divine grace and human responsibility, the family can be considered a ‘garden’ or a ‘first seminary’ in which the seeds of vocation, which God sows generously, are able to blossom and grow to full maturity.” (Message for the XXXI World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 1993). Vocations in the Church go by way of the family, and the stronger Christian families become, the more vocations in the Church flourish.

Finally, in service of the Month of the Holy Family, the diocesan office of Marriage and Family is promoting a series of events aimed at strengthening marriage and the family as well as the role of parents. I especially encourage parents to attend the “Parenting with Christian Hope” conference on Feb. 22, which will help all parents in their ongoing vocation during this Jubilee Year of Hope.  More information on this conference and other events can be found at www.diocs.org/Offices/The-Office-of-Marriage-and-Family-Life. 

Holy Family of Nazareth, icon and model for all families, pray for us!