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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (B)
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Gospel text (Lk 2:22-40): When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord... When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Holy Family: Jesus' family deserves the title "Holy"

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, we are celebrating the Holy Family of Nazareth. It is a most suitable context because Christmas is the Feast of the family par excellence. This is demonstrated by numerous traditions and social customs, especially the practice of gathering together as a family. Jesus willed to be born and to grow up in a human family; He had the Virgin Mary as his mother and Joseph who acted as his father; they raised and educated him with immense love.

Jesus' family truly deserves the title "Holy", for it was fully engaged in the desire to do the will of God. On the one hand, it was a family like all others and as such, it is a model of conjugal love, collaboration, sacrifice and entrustment to divine Providence, hard work and solidarity; in short, of all those values that the family safeguards and promotes, making an important contribution to forming the fabric of every society.

—Today we thank God, but also the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, who with much faith and willingness cooperated in the Lord's plan of salvation.