Fr. Michael writes: In remembering the Holy Family, we look to our own family in gratitude for what we have received. The feast of the Holy Family, we celebrate today, is not an old one, it was instituted in 1921; but the Christian family has been celebrated by all who care to admit their indebtedness to it as the lively place where they were at home with God and an assortment of weird and wonderful relatives! In the Christian family we learn that God never comes alone; he is always accompanied by a legion of others who, in their own shy way, show us something of God’s loving kindness. In the Christian family we can catch something of the God who accepts us as we are and who keeps on loving us to the end. None of our families are all holy. Often our love and forgiveness is tested. But in the midst of all that, there is a God. That is the first place to find Him. It is the place where he found us. Therefore we must always protect and cherish family life and values and guard against all who might weaken or threaten it in this modern society.