Saturday, December 27, 2025
Letter from the Editor //
Dear Sister,
The Gospel for tomorrow’s Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph tells us how Saint Joseph rose in the night and fled with Mary and the Infant Jesus to save Jesus from Herod’s command to his soldiers to kill the baby boys of Bethlehem. We can imagine what it must have been like, knowing God had a plan for the newborn, needing to keep the baby quiet, rushing to pack, and slipping out into the dark. How the hearts of Mary and Joseph must have raced on that night. But we can also imagine how God’s grace sustained them, how their lives reflected the words of Saint Paul as “over all” their virtues “they put on love” (Colossians 3:14).
We celebrate the Holy Family tomorrow, so that we can know how to live in our own families. Saint Paul describes to us in tomorrow’s Second Reading what a family must do to become holy: “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another” (Colossians 3:12-13). Scripture tells us to honor our parents, submit to our spouse in love, to not discourage our children, but we cannot do this without grace. Grace is how the Holy Family did it as well; they completely relied on God and we can also. This Sunday, ask the Holy Family to pray for you, to bring you into the love of their family, so that you can love with God’s love. When we do this, our families will be blessed: “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!” (Psalm 128:1)
In Christ’s Love,
Susanna
Read the Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph:
First Reading // Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Psalm // Psalm 128:1-5
Second Reading // Colossians 3:12-21
Gospel // Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
Live Liturgically // This Week’s Feast Days
Saturday, December 27 // Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
Sunday, December 28 // Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Monday, December 29 // Optional Memorial of Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr
Wednesday, December 31 // Optional Memorial of Saint Sylvester I, Pope
Thursday, January 1 // Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God // The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord // Holy Day of Obligation
Friday, January 2 // Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Susanna Spencer holds a master's in Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and is the Devotions Editor for Blessed is She. She is a freelance writer and editor and a teacher-in-training living with her philosopher husband and four kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She loves reading theology, attending beautiful liturgies, cooking delicious food, and casually following baseball. She is the author of all of the Blessed is She Gospel Meditation Studies. She was narrator for Found: Advent With the Good Shepherd and Rescued: Lent With the Lamb of God and a contributing author and editor for our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. She is the Theological Editor of the Blessed Conversations Studies. Find out more about her here.
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