February: Devotion to the Holy Family

February,  is the month in the Catholic Church that is dedicated to the devotion to the Holy Family.  This is a time to reflect on the family life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, to meditate on their virtues and to grow in understanding in the model they provide for Christian families. 

 

We celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s. But it is the month of February is devoted to the Holy Family, and holds a unique connection to the hidden life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph because of the Feast of the Presentation, celebrated on February 2. 

40 days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, following Jewish Law, would have presented the child Jesus in the temple and made an offering.  On this day, Catholics celebrate Candlemas, symbolizing the recognition of Christ as the Light of the world, even in His hidden life with Mary and Joseph.

Saint John Paul II emphasized the importance of the family as the domestic church and encouraged families to model themselves after the Holy Family. 

In his encyclical, Familiaris Consortio, he wrote on the dangers and challenges against the family by the current culture. As a response he encouraged the Catholic family with an invocation for the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth, saying:

 

“Through God’s mysterious design, it was in that family that the Son of God spent long years of a hidden life. It is therefore the prototype and example for all Christian families.” 

 

“[The Holy Family] underwent trials of poverty, persecution, and exile. It glorified God in an incomparably exalted and pure way. And it will not fail to help Christian families – indeed, all the families in the world – to be faithful to their day-to-day duties, to bear the cares and tribulations of life, to be open and generous to the needs of others, and to fulfill with joy the plan of God in their regard.”

The dedication of February to the Holy Family is a rich tradition that invites us to reflect the divine gift of family life within the Catholic tradition. This February, let us especially express our devotion to the Holy Family and seek the guidance and intercession of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in our daily lives. May the Holy Family guide, protect, and inspire us as we strive to imitate them on the path of faith, love, and holiness within our own families.

Growing in Devotion to the Holy Family

  1. Key themes for February’s devotion to the Holy Family include
  2. The Holy Family as the model family for our families, embodying virtue and holiness
  3. The “Domestic church” February encourages famlies, through prayer, love and support for one another, grow in holiness and transform their homes into the “domestic church” 
  4. Virtus to emulate: the devotion highlights virtues such as obedience to God, mutual love, patience, humility and forgiveness.

 

Ways to Grow in Devotion to the Holy Family:

There is a long tradition in our Faith of referring to the Catholic home as the domestic church.  We are called to cultivate a family life centered on Christ in imitation of the virtues that Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived.  Here are some ways to help you dedicate February to the Holy Family in your home: 

  1. Consecrate your family to the Holy Family (See Below)

2.  As a priest to bless your home.

3.  Practice the charity of the Holy family by acts of kindness, forgiveness and patience towards family members.

4.  Strengthen your family’s devotion to the Eucharist by attending Mass together, not just on Sundays, but whenever you can.

5.  Pray the Rosary as a family, especially focusing on the Joyful Mysteries.

 
 

Consecration to the Holy Family

O Jesus, our most loving Redeemer, who, having come to enlighten the world with Your teaching and example, did will to spend the greater part of Your life in humility and subjection to Mary and Joseph in the poor home of Nazareth, thus sanctifying the Family that was to be an example for all Christian families, graciously receive our family as it dedicates and consecrates itself to You this day. Protect us, guard us, and establish among us Your holy fear, true peace, and concord in Christian love: so that by living according to the divine pattern of Your family we may be able, all of us without exception, to attain to eternal happiness. 

Mary, dear Mother of Jesus and Mother of us, by your kindly intercession, make this, our humble offering, acceptable in the sight of Jesus, and obtain for us His graces and blessings. 

O Saint Joseph, most holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, help us by your prayers in all our spiritual and temporal needs; so that we may be enabled to praise our divine Savior Jesus, together with Mary and you, for all eternity.

(Recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory 3 times.) 

Amen.