By Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

The Sunday between Christmas and New Year’ Day is Holy Family Sunday. The Church meditates on the homelife of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Their “living room” was a piece of heaven on Earth. Our living rooms – and dining rooms, back decks, front porches, and back yards – should be like little heavens. The conversations, games, friendships, and meals shared in these places should invite Christ to join us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

We should ponder the family’s role in God’s Providence. Because God’s Son became man in Mary’s womb, he identifies with every person, at every stage of life’s journey. Growing up, Christ experienced a child’s vulnerability, a youth’s need for guidance, and everyone’s need for a living room and a place to call home.

By becoming human, God put his Son in the hands of human parents, entrusted with guarding, guiding, and forming his humanity. The Father used Christ’s vulnerability to show us how to treat all vulnerable human life. By entrusting Jesus to Mary and Joseph, God shows us how to guide and love youth and – above all – to teach them to pray. The Catechism of the Catholic Church sums up Mary and Josephs’ role in raising Jesus:

“The Son of God who became Son of the Virgin also learned to pray according to his human heart. He learns the formulas of prayer from his mother, who kept in her heart and meditated upon all the "great things" done by the Almighty” (CCC 2599)

Here’s our lesson from the Holy Family: our homes should be sanctuaries of prayer. A family should be a community where Christ is always invited and welcomed. A family is where God’s Commandments are taught and practiced. A family is a school of love, and the living room is love’s classroom. The family is where we learn to “seek first the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 6:33).