Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family which is an essential part of the entire Christmas Season. The Divine Word assumed a human body and entered into every aspect of human life, including family life, sanctifying it and making it a path to holiness for all of us. In Christ Jesus, God unites himself to the entire human nature. He fully enters human experience, with all its ups and downs. Jesus spent most of his life in the obscure nitty-gritty of family life. True, Joseph is a saint, Mary is without sin, Jesus is God incarnate, yet there are still challenges, hardships, tense moments, and opportunities for misunderstanding - real family life. By entering family life, Jesus makes it an instrument of sanctification and growth in holiness.
The feast of the Holy Family reminds us that all human beings are called to the heights of holiness. All states in life, if approached right, can become a road to profound personal transformation and communion with God. Just think about it. The Creator of the universe spent most of his human life as a craftsman, working with dad in the family business. Mary, the holiest of all creatures, spent most of her time taking care of her family, cooking, and cleaning. So, let us remember that the secret to holiness is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love and gratitude.