Lessons from the Holy Family for us today

from Saint Andrew Daily Missal:

“Is it not fitting,” says Leo XIII, “to celebrate the royal birth of the Son of the supreme Father, of the house of David and the glorious names of that ancient line? Yet it is more consoling for us to call to memory the little house at Nazareth and the humble life lived there; thus celebrating the hidden life of our Lord. For there the divine Child received his training in Joseph’s humble trade; there hidden and sheltered, He grew up and showed Himself ready to share the toil of a carpenter’s life. Let the moisture,” he seemed to say, “trickle over my limbs before they are drenched with the torrent of my blood, and the pain of this labour shall go to atone for the sins of men.” Close to the divine Child is His tender Mother; close to Joseph stands his devoted wife…