“There's not much in the Bible about the Holy Family, and none of the apostles were there to see it. Where does our knowledge of the Holy Family come from?”

We know that “Revelation” comes to us both from the Bible and through Tradition. In addition to Tradition, custom also comes down to us through the years. Custom is not revelation, but it is knowledge or reasonable ideas the Church has preserved.

Our knowledge of the Holy Family comes from what we know from the Bible and what has been reasonably assumed.

The Holy Family is Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. That much is in Scripture. The holiness of this family comes from Jesus, who is the Son of God. Again, that knowledge comes from Scripture.

We assume that the presence of Jesus among those who were closest to him led them to holiness and that their family life was one we should imitate. That is why we celebrate the Holy Family.

How can we make our family holy? We do not imitate specific things that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph did together, but we see that they were drawn together by God's gift and God's love. When we put God I s gift of Jesus and God I s love for us at the center of our own family, then we imitate the Holy Family.

Family life is fundamental in the Church. The family is sometimes called the domestic church. We want Jesus to be part of our family so that our family can be holy, too. Celebrate this as a family day.