1500 years ago, two Church Fathers, St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, proposed and developed an idea that had not been heard of before, looking upon the family as a “mini-Church.” It was actually not a new idea, since it was drawn primarily from the Scriptures, seeing as the Old Testament emphasized the importance of the family and its central understanding as covenantal and the New Testament seeing this covenant fulfilled in Christ, but it was the first time there was a name for it, the “domestic church.”

It was an idea, however, that was not largely embraced until its resurgence during Vatican II and the emphasis that the late John Paul II placed upon it, as a result. As one commentator notes: “The council realized that the smallest articulation of the church was not the parish, but the Christian family.” And, as the Council puts it: “The family is, so to speak, the domestic church. In it parents should, by their word and example, be the first preachers of the faith to their children; they should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each of them, fostering with special care vocation to a sacred state.”

In other words, the family should be the first source of catechesis, where we learn to pray, and where we come to understand our own moral dimension helping in our conversion and development as we grow as Christians.

Perhaps, in this day and age, though that seems like more of an ideal than a reality, which is why, the Church in her wisdom, has given us a strong example, one that sets the bar high, as it were, but much needed, in the Holy Family, the feast we celebrate today.

Granted, they indeed are hard family to match, given that the mother is free of all sin, the foster-father is an upright and virtuous man, and the child is God Himself, but that is the point, their lives show us the possibility that exists in any family, the potential for holiness that can be found if it is indeed sought. It is not a call to imitate their perfection, because perfection cannot be reached here, but to learn from them their holiness and how, from that, to maintain and balance a truly holy family.

Because a strong family, just as a strong Christian, relies on prayer as its foundation, and when prayer is not foundational things fall apart. It was the Servant of God, Fr. Peyton who put it so well, with his simple but lasting message: “The family that prays together, stays together.”

And that is what the Holy Family exemplifies and why they are put before us as the perfect example, because they were men and women who constantly prayed, and though it does not say it explicitly, it is more than probable that they too prayed together as well.

It may sound like an oversimplification, that in order to save the family, we need to pray, but if prayer is not integral to our lives, whether individually or communally its absence is felt, things get more difficult, and slowly unravel in our lives. And, if the family is meant to be the domestic church, a house of prayer, and prayer is absent, how long then can the house stand?

That is why by reflecting on the lives of the Holy Family, that first domestic church, as it were, we come see the importance of our own families as well, and why, by them, we are, ultimately, challenged to make their way of life, our way of life, because they are a source of virtue for us, and they can teach us how to truly love our family, and, in the end, to live truly holy lives.