Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary/A
Massimo Palombella
Today’s feast day has been celebrated locally since the 17th century. In 1895 Pope Leo XIII fixed the date on the third Sunday after Epiphany. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV extended the feast to the whole Church and set it on the Sunday in the octave of the Epiphany. Pope John XXIII moved it to the first Sunday after Epiphany. The Liturgical Reform of the Second Vatican Council placed this feast on the first Sunday after Christmas (if Christmas falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated on Friday, 30 December). In the Ambrosian Rite, the Feast of the Holy Family is placed on the last Sunday of January (3rd or 4th Sunday after Epiphany), remaining faithful to the oldest collocation.
God made man wanted to be born, to grow up, to mature in a family, a reality that represents an indispensable point for each of us. In fact, no one can live “alone”, without maturing into fatherhood, motherhood, which is the essence of the family, the point of synthesis of our sexuality, which alone ensures that our life has that inner quality that makes it truly worth living.
The text of today’s Communion Antiphon is taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 2:20) with the following text:
Tolle puerum et matrem eius, et vade in terram Israel:
defuncti sunt enim qui quaerebant animam pueri.
(Take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel;
for those who sought the child’s life are dead).
The attached music, in Gregorian chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the “Gloriæ Dei Cantores” conducted by Mary Barry. The music track can be found on the CD “The Coming of Christ: A Celebration of Faith in His Name” published by NAXOS of America in 2002.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
