Holy Family

Dearly Beloved,

Wishing you many graces and blessings on Today's feast of the Holy Family. May God strengthen you in your vocation as Husband, Wife, Father and Mother, son and daughter.

Today, we have the opportunity to travel with the Holy Family.

1^st Location is Egypt.


Egypt is known for the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Nile River. Egypt helps one to recall the story of Moses and the Exodus event. Through Moses, God shows His Almighty power over the Egyptian gods through the ten plagues.


God also protected the chosen people from the Angel of Death. Only if they have the blood of the spotless lamb sprinkled on the door posts. And in their homes, feasting on the lamb. The Angel of Death passed over their homes. It was in Egypt that the Chosen People had their first Passover. And subsequently, every Passover recalls how God saved His people.


Christ is born. He is the Emmanuel, God with us. Christ is the Light that is now in the world. But King Herod desperately wants to extinguish this light. He seeks to end the child's life. But the Angel reveals to Joseph in a dream of their escape.


The Holy Family will find refuge and shelter in Egypt. The Holy Family re-lives the story of Moses, the Passover, and the Exodus Event in Egypt.

When I am trying to center my life in Christ, what are some of my interruptions? With the help of the Holy Spirit, how can I lessen those interruptions? Or how I can learn to flee from them? Am I aware that compared to my idols and attachments, Almighty God is more powerful and more valuable.

Second location is Nazareth

After the departure to Egypt, the Holy Family returned to their hometown of Nazareth. In the Gospel, it is said with great disdain: “can anything good come from Nazareth?"

It is here in Nazareth that the Holy Family found shelter and refuge. Nazareth is a poor and desolate town, known for corruption and immorality. But Nazareth is where the Holy Family dwels and where Christ spent most of his childhood.

Compared to Jerusalem, Nazareth is not a holy place. It is rather obscure, and off the beaten path. But it is here that the Holy Family lived out their vocation as a family; not public but secretive. So secret that little is written about the childhood of Christ.

Nazareth would be a place in which they could worship the Heavenly Father, and to live out their vocation without any witnesses, other than Almighty Father. In other words, the Holy Family were faithful and devoted to God, regardless of witnesses.

Can I be God-fearing, and a good disciple of Christ in public (visible before others) and also in secret when no one is watching? When in Jerusalem (public place) and in Nazareth (secret place), am I faithfully serving God and keeping his commandments?


It is so that Christ lives in me, in and out of season, day in and day out. Whether people are watching or not, regardless of witnesses, my only concern is to be God-fearing, and a good, kind and loving person.

Location #3 - Bethlehem

Bethlehem in Hebrew means the house of bread. It is the location of Christ's birth. But in Bethlehem, something terrible has happened. King Herod in an attempt to extinguish the light that is now in the world, repeated the Exodus story. Just like Pharaoh, he made martyrs, the Holy Innocents.

It's true the saying: "one who does not know history is bound to repeat it."

You can imagine the sadness in Bethlehem when King Herod carried out his command. He ordered for the massacre of infant boys, hoping to take the life of the Christ-Child.

We live in a Bethlehem today, because preventing birth is legalized in our nation and considered acceptable. King Herod is stilll living today in the form of that commonly accepted norm. He is making more and more martyrs of Holy Innocents. I may often feel powerless against King Herod. But you know that King David defeated Gigantic Goliath with a small pebble. So it is with the small things that we can do in public (Jerusalem) and in private (Nazareth), to be aware of King Herod, and his attempt to extinguish the light. May the Holy Spirit give you courage.


May God bless you!