Today the church celebrates Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, or The Feast of the Holy Family. The idea of an octave is that the feasts being celebrated, in this case Christmas, or The Nativity of the Lord, is too great a feast to celebrate on just one day, so the celebration is extended over the next eight days.

The Church (big C) calls the family, however that family is configured, the domestic church (small c) because the family is the primary place where, like Jesus, most of us come in touch with God on an everyday basis — in our tending to illnesses, our vacuuming and laundering, our handing over of the weekly paycheck, our worrying about each other, our kissing and crying, and yes, even in our family misunderstandings — God is present to us.

Further, the Church tells us that what we do in our families is more important even than what we do in our parishes.

Be sure to watch the entire video as Father Jerry offers the opportunity for your family, or for you in your family relationship with the parish, to recommit to being a Holy Family.