Family is the core of any social culture. As goes the
family, so goes the social culture.
We are living in a time where virtuous family values have been
eroded away by a strengthening social culture that no longer sees these virtuous
values as guiding principles. Families, more and more, are adopting (or being
forced to adopt) the values of the modern social culture – a scenario that has
played out over and again, in one way or another, during the course of human
history.
The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family in the
Catholic Church.
The special devotion, which proposes the Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as the model of virtue for all Christian households,
began in the 17th century.
It started almost simultaneously in Canada and France - The
Association of the Holy Family was founded in Montreal in 1663, and by the
Daughters of the Holy Family in Paris in 1674.
This devotion soon spread. In 1893 Leo XIII expressed his
approval of a feast under this title, and himself composed part of the Office.
On account of the flight into Egypt[1],
this feast has been observed by the Coptic Church from early times. The feast
was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs as an efficacious means for bringing home
to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth, as a means
to restore the true spirit of family life, and to build a bulkhead against the
eroding tides of the evils inherent in present-day society.
We should ask ourselves if our own families model that of
the Holy Family and seek to faithfully model the virtues inherent in their
lives.
Prayer To Imitate
The Holy Family
O God, Heavenly
Father,
it was part of
your eternal decree that your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the
human race,
should form a holy
family with Mary, his blessed mother,
and his foster
father, Saint Joseph.
In Nazareth, home
life was sanctified,
and a perfect
example was given to every Christian family.
Grant, we beseech
you,
that we may fully
comprehend and faithfully imitate the virtues of the Holy Family
so that we may be
united with them one day
in their heavenly
glory.
Through Christ our
Lord.
Prayer Before The
Blessed Sacrament
Grant us, O Lord
Jesus,
faithfully to
imitate the examples of your Holy Family,
so that in the
hour of our death,
in the company of
your glorious Virgin Mother and Saint Joseph,
we may deserve to
be received by you
into your eternal
tabernacle.
Prayer For The
Protection Of The Holy Family
Grant unto us,
Lord Jesus,
ever to follow the
example of your Holy Family,
that in the hour
of our death
your glorious
Virgin Mother,
together with
blessed Joseph,
may come to meet
us.
And may we be
worthily received by you into everlasting dwellings
Who lives and
reigns world without end.
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