On the 6th Day of Christmas, The Feast of the Holy Family

6th Day of Christmas, The Feast of the Holy Family

The Feast of the Holy Family is unusually celebrated on the Sunday in between Dec. 25, Christmas, and Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary. Only if, as in this year, there is no Sunday during that period is the Feast celebrated on December 30.

The Gospels do not address the family life of Jesus before his ministry in great depth. His parents, Joseph and Mary, were apparently observant Jews, as Luke narrates that they brought Jesus with them on the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem with other Jewish families. Both Matthew and Luke narrate some episodes in the life of Jesus before his ministry: his circumcision and later Presentation at the Temple, the flight to Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the Finding of the adolescent Jesus in the Temple.

The Feast of the Holy Family is a celebration in honor of Jesus, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family. The main purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families, as discussed in a 1964 homily by Pope St. Paul VI.