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This Sunday, the Church throughout the world celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. This day which follows our observance of Christmas brings the attention of Catholics everywhere to consider Jesus, Mary and Joseph and their life together as a family. There is very little information in scripture about the home in which Jesus was raised and the events that took place as Jesus grew up in Nazareth. But we know that when God came to earth to live among us, he came to live in the most basic unit of humankind: the family. And this is the basis for our celebration and it gives us a model for Christian living which can lead us into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

The purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the example for all Christian families. Each of us is a member of a family. For some of us, that family is a spouse and children; for others it is siblings or extended family. And for many, our family is made not of blood relations, but of friends, neighbors and our parish community. However we define our “family,” this celebration reminds us we are called to sanctify our life outside of the walls of the parish and that our home is to be a “domestic church.”

Our home should be a microcosm of the universal Church and a place that leads us to holiness of life. We are called not only to work toward holiness while we are in church — we called to strive for holiness at all times and in all places. And the place this is most apparent is in our homes.

It really makes sense, if you think about it. We spend such a good deal of time in our homes and with our families, that to work to sanctify those times and places is a good start on moving closer to Christ and toward greater holiness of life. As far as we know, Jesus, Mary and Joseph did not lead lives which were terribly different from others in their community.

Joseph was a carpenter and undoubtedly worked in very much the same way as other carpenters in his day. Mary and Joseph sanctified their home life by doing the ordinary things of daily lives in union with God. In doing so, they grew in holiness and became a “holy family.”

Such holiness of life is the call of each one of us. We are called to be holy in the ordinary experiences of daily life and in our daily activities. St. Therese of Lisieux wrote “Doing one’s ordinary work is quite enough, provided we do it with great love and great joy.” And that is our call: to do all those things of our daily routine with full love of God, and seeing them as occasions for increased sanctity in our homes and in our families.

So as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family and look ahead to a new year, it is a good opportunity to think about how we can make our home a place of spiritual growth toward a greater holiness of life. And more importantly, it is a reminder to thank God for the gift of our family and our community that can lead us ever more closely to model that simplistic and beautiful faith of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.