Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020 The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
By Marc Massery
This Christmas just isn’t the same. The global pandemic has changed so much in our lives. Many have been forced not to travel to visit family. Some of us will spend it alone. Still others are going through hardships unrelated to the pandemic.
Whatever the reason may be, if you're suffering this Christmas, remember that you are not alone. Saint Faustina suffered during the Christmas season, too. In 1936, she was sent to Pradnik to spend three months in treatment. She was dying of tuberculosis, a debilitating lung condition for which there was no cure at the time. Saint Faustina wrote in her Diary:
I will spend Christmas there among strangers, yet with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, because such is the will of God. (795)
Though St. Faustina had to spend Christmas far from home, sick, and among strangers, she didn’t let this discourage her. Though she didn’t always understand, she trusted in God’s plan for her. She knew that the Holy Family spent the first Christmas among strangers, too — in a manger far from home.
Never forget how much the Holy Family suffered during the first Christmas. Our Lady was almost ready to give birth when circumstances forced her and Joseph to leave home and travel to Bethlehem on a donkey in order to be counted for the census. God could have easily prevented this hardship if He had wanted to. He could have allowed Mary to give birth to the Savior of the World in the comfort of her own home town. But for His own reasons, the Lord allowed Mary and Joseph to suffer in this way.
So we’re not alone in our suffering. Even the holiest men and women on earth — even the Holy Family — suffered difficulties during Christmas. But they trusted that God would use their difficult circumstances for their good. So don’t give up hope. God loves us and has a plan for us, we only need to trust.
Image by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609–1685), public domain
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