~`=`~`FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY`~`+`~
~ VIRGIN MARY ~ CHILD JESUS ~ SAINT JOSEPH ~
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The Feast of the Holy Family celebrates the human family unit,
as well as the ultimate family unit: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The feast, not a solemnity, is usually celebrated
on the Sunday after Christmas.
If Christmas is a Sunday, then the feast is celebrated on December 30th.
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Source: Excerpts from ChurchNear.net
Liturgical Color(s): White
Type of Holiday: Feast Day; Holy Day of Obligation (if on a Sunday)
Time of Year: The Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day;
If both are Sundays, the feast is celebrated on December 30
Duration: One Day
Celebrates/Symbolizes: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Alternate Names: Holy Family Sunday
Scriptural References: Matthew 2:13-23; Luke 2:1-24, Psalm 128,
Colossians 3:12-21.
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Introduction:
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The Holy Family is the name given to the family unit of Jesus:
The Divine Son of God Jesus, his mother the Virgin Mary, and his foster-father Joseph. We know very little about the life of the Holy Family through the canonical Gospels. They speak of the early years of the Holy Family, including the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, and the finding of Jesus in the temple.
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Various non-canonical works, including the Infancy Gospel of Thomas,
try to fill in the blanks. However, even though these apocryphal works may contain some truth derived from oral tradition, they have been deemed unworthy of canonical status because of the way they present Jesus. While the exact details of the day-to-day life of the Holy Family may be unknown,
we can still learn a lot from the stories we do have.
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Devotion to the Holy Family is a recent development,
but one that naturally grows out of a love for Jesus and his family. The cult of the Holy Family grew in popularity in the 17th century, and several religious congregations have been founded under this title. The Holy Family also became portrayed in popular art of the period. On October 26, 1921 the Congregation of Rites (under Pope Benedict XV) inserted the Feast of the Holy Family into the Latin Rite general calendar.
Until then it had been celebrated regionally (see History below).
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Popes before and including Benedict XV (especially Leo XIII)
promoted the feast as a way to counter the breakdown of the family unit. Today the Church celebrates the Feast on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day (Known as the Feast of Mary Mother of God in the Catholic Church). If both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Sundays, no Sunday exists between the two dates, so the Church celebrates the Holy Family Feast on December 30th. If the feast falls on the 30th, attendance is not obligatory.
Up until 1969, the Holy Family feast was kept on the first Sunday
after the Epiphany.
It was transferred to its current date in 1969.
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The Feast of the Holy Family is not just about the Holy Family,
but about our own families too.
The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family
as the model for all Christian families, and for domestic life in general. Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. This is called the "domestic church" or the "church in miniature." St. John Chrysostom urged all Christians to make each home a "family church," and in doing so, we sanctify the family unit. Just how does one live out the Church in the family? The best way is by making Christ the center of family and individual life.
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Ways to do this include: reading scripture regularly, praying daily,
attending Mass at least on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, imitating the actions of the Holy Family, going to confession frequently, and so forth, all done together as a family unit. In addition to cultivating positive actions, the Church understands that various actions and behaviors are contrary to God's Divine plan for the family, and these should be avoided. These include abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, polygamy, embryonic stem-cell research, divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, and co-habitation.
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Catholic Teaching is that a marriage must be open to children.
Anything artificial that prevents this is contrary to divine law, although spacing births for a just reason is permitted (and may be licitly accomplished through "natural family planning"). Also, poverty, lack of health care, rights violations, government intrusion in the life of communities and families, and other justice concerns must be addressed by faithful Christians because of the negative effect these conditions have on the family unit.
St. Paul gives us some advice on family life in Colossians 3:12-21:
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Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness,
lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
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And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything
In the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged (RSV).
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The Holy Family feast is a good time to remember the family unit
and pray for our human and spiritual families. We also may take this feast to reflect on the value and sanctity of the family unit, and to evaluate our own family life. What ways may it be improved? What would Jesus, Mary, and Joseph do? Finally, we can use this feast to ask ourselves what are we doing to promote the family within our own cultures,
neighborhoods, and communities.
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History:
In 1643 Louis and Barbe d'Ailleboust came to Canada in order to devote
their lives to the welfare of the natives there. After her husband had passed away, Barbe, with the assistance of the Jesuit Father Chaumonot, founded the Confraternity of the Holy Family. The confraternity and devotion to the Holy Family spread all over Canada and had the effect of promoting good morals. Monsignor François de Laval invited her to Quebec, and gave her the general management if the confraternity, which still exists today.
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In 1675, the now Bishop de Laval had a little book printed in Paris
instructing the members of the confraternity as to virtuous practices. Bishop de Laval also established the feast of the Holy Family, and had a mass and office drawn up which are proper to the Diocese of Québec. The feast was later added in 1921 to the General calendar of the Western Rite as a way to counteract the breakdown of the family.
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`life of Mother Angelica`
Mother Angelica Live Classics - 2013-01-29 - John 15 -
Mother Angelica - EWTN·3,861 videos
***`Mother Angelica`***
On April 20th, Mother Angelica celebrated her 90th birthday.
For the past 11 years, she has suffered from the effects
of a stroke and brain surgery
and has been bed-ridden for the past 5 years..
This may not seem like a miracle
but some doctors would say it comes pretty close.
For her Sisters who take care of Mother, it is obvious
hat she has not refused the suffering
but has embraced it. Mother has had a great deal
of suffering and pain in her life,
but it has never made her bitter or resentful.
She knew God had a purpose for it
and she has accepted it as a blessing.
Thank you for your continued prayers for Mother
and for EWTN.
From The Sisters at Our Lady of the Angels
Monastery on June 12, 2013
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Mother Angelica
Source: Catholicbeauty.com:
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation,
PCPA is an American Franciscan nun
best known as a television personality and the founder of
the Eternal Word Television Network.
Source:-en.wikipedia.org
.Born: Apr 20, 1923 (age 90) · Canton, Ohio
Founded: Eternal Word Television Network ·
Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word...
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:Timeline:
1923: The future Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo,
on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio,
in a community of Italian immigrants,Southeast Canton,
who worked in the mills in Canton.
1944: On August 15, 1944, Rita Antoinette Rizzo
became Sister Rita,
when she arrived at Saint Paul's Shrine in Cleveland
and entered the Adoration Monastery of the Poor Clares
of Perpetual Adoration (a cloistered contemplative order).
1977: Additionally, Christian television WCFC 38 (now WCPX)
out of Chicago began airing her program in 1977.
1981: After many problems and glitches, Angelica signed on
her cable channel on August 15, 1981, and named it
Eternal Word Television Network...
(EWTN).
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`I am but a star in the heavens above
guiding over you in God's eternal love
I once was a soul like you on earth now
a heavenly star in miracle of rebirth!
'in celebration of eternal life ~ 08/03/1972
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