Daily Catholic Lectio
Sun, 28 December ‘25
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, Joseph – Feast
Sirach 3:2–7, 12–14. Colossians 3:12–21. Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23
Family Is Where We Celebrate Our Weaknesses
Dear Brothers and Sisters, the meaning of ‘family’ is changing rapidly in today’s world. Many choose to live together, remain single. Many families are dissolved. Some are separating. Some choose to marry themselves. Some marry the persons of same sex. The Feast of the Holy Family poses a demanding question: what truly makes a family?
Today’s theme offers a striking answer: family is the place where our weaknesses are celebrated, not judged; carried, not rejected.
Human persons make families. Only God makes a holy family.
There is a beautiful story of two brothers. They are nine and eight years old. The younger one cannot walk because of polio, but he loves playing carrom. When there is a local carrom competition, the elder brother carries his younger brother on his back and goes to the hall. The place is crowded, and they have to wait. The elder brother continues to stand, carrying him. Seeing this, an older man says, “Son, why don’t you put that burden down for a while?” The boy replies, “He is not a burden. He is my brother.”
That one sentence explains family. Family means carrying the weakness of another as one’s own life.
Unlike animals that are strong and independent almost from birth, human beings are weak from the beginning to the end of life. We are weak as children, weak in sickness, weak in old age. God’s answer to human weakness is family.
Family and Other Relationships: Three Differences
Family relationships are different from all other relationships in three important ways.
First, family members are not chosen; they are given. We choose our friends, colleagues, and even life partners. But we do not choose our parents, siblings, or children. They are gifts entrusted to us by God.
Second, family relationships do not end. Friendships may break, associations may change, but a father remains a father, a mother remains a mother, a child remains a child—whether we like it or not. Family is permanent.
Third, family members are bound by life itself. Blood means life. Even when conflicts arise, the bond cannot be erased. And in moments of crisis, it is usually family that stands closest. As Proverbs says, “A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity” (Prov 17:17).
The Message of the Readings
The first reading from Sirach speaks directly about weakness—especially the weakness of old age. Parents who were once strong become physically and mentally fragile. Sirach calls children to respond not with impatience or contempt, but with patience and compassion. Caring for weak parents is not a burden; it becomes a blessing and a path of healing.
The second reading from Colossians describes the virtues that must fill a Christian family: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. Why are these virtues needed? Precisely because family life exposes weaknesses—our own and those of others. These virtues make it possible to live together without destroying one another.
The Gospel from Matthew shows the Holy Family itself in weakness. The child’s life is threatened. Mary and the child are helpless. Joseph does not argue, calculate, or delay. He gets up in the night, accepts hardship, and leads his family into uncertainty. What makes this a Holy Family is not comfort, but God’s presence guiding human weakness.
Three Lessons for Our Families
From the Holy Family, we learn three enduring lessons.
(a) First, seek the well-being of the other. Joseph seeks the safety of Mary and the child. Paul urges spouses and parents to seek one another’s good. Family begins to break when “my good” replaces “our good.”
(b) Second, accept suffering and discomfort. Celebrating weakness means sleepless nights, silent sacrifices, fear, risk, and trust. One cannot remain inside a comfort zone and still carry another’s weakness.
(c) Third, love without expectations. Family love is not a transaction. Parents do not love children for returns. Joseph did not flee to Egypt expecting gratitude. Love in a family is given freely, without calculation.
Conclusion
Today, let us thank God for our families—for parents, children, siblings. When we stop listing only our own weaknesses and begin to recognize and carry the weaknesses of others, our families become holy.
Family is not where we prove our strength, but where we dare to be weak together—and discover that God is with us there.
Like the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, our families too are holy families when we choose to bear each other’s weaknesses.
Today we close the Jubilee 2025 in the local churches. We celebrated the jubilee with great enthusiasm reflecting on the theme, ‘pilgrims of hope.’ The Holy Family invites us to walk further as ‘pilgrims of hope’ amidst the uncertainties, ambiguities, and fragilities of life.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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