Dear Saints,

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. Pope Saint John Paul II once famously said that “as the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.” The family is the building block of society, and it’s of vital importance that we safeguard it as such.

This can be a daunting task, because families are made up of imperfect people who can hurt and be hurt. All families occasionally experience the day-to-day irritations of communal existence; many endure outright misery for years on end.

So how do we set our family life on the right trajectory? Unsurprisingly, our best bet is to follow the example of the Holy Family in one particular way: their priorities. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were committed to God’s will above everything else. They loved each other so well because they loved God more. And that’s the key to familial harmony across time and space. There’s no question that relatives will always pose challenges to our patience; some will break our hearts over and over again. But the more firmly we remain committed to hearing and heeding the word of God in all things, the greater our strength will be to navigate both the joys and sorrows occasioned by our loved ones. As our love for God goes, so goes the family.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ