Families and the example of the Christian home in Nazareth

The Holy Family refers to the family formed by Jesus of Nazareth and his parents, Mary and Joseph and is always given as a model to Catholic families.

Dom Guéranger (a French Benedictine monk and priest, d. 1875, who served for nearly 40 years as the Abbot of the restored Solesmes Abbey) explained the meaning of the feast of the Holy Family, saying:

“The holy house of Nazareth is the perfect model of the Christian home. There, Joseph exerted calm and serene authority, because he knew that by doing so he was doing the will of God and speaking in his name ... Like a good superior, he made use of his authority only to fulfill the role of a servant, of a subject and an instrument.

Mary, as it befits a wife, remained modestly submitted to Joseph; and in turn, as she adored the Child over whom she had authority, she naturally told Jesus what to do, on the countless opportunities that presented themselves in family life, as any mother would do with her child.

And Jesus humbly accepted what she said: he was attentive to the slightest desires of his parents, docile to their least orders. In all aspects of everyday life, he was more skillful, wiser, and holier than Mary and Joseph, and though all honor is due to him, he was subjected to them, and he remained so until the time of his public life. For such is the human condition that he assumed, and such is the good pleasure of his Father.”

The families who take the home in Nazareth as a model advance quickly along the path of holiness. For this reason, my dear friends, it is not surprising that today the family is the object of the continual attacks by the enemies of the human race; and in truth indeed we can see that the family is suffering more and more.

Father Silvio Moreno

Fr Moreno is an Argentine priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVI). He is a missionary priest in Tunisia and administrator of the Cathedral of Tunis.

Adapted from: Cathedral Tunis