{"id":110144,"date":"2025-12-28T06:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=110144"},"modified":"2025-12-28T06:59:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:59:27","slug":"the-fourth-day-of-christmas-the-holy-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-fourth-day-of-christmas-the-holy-family\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fourth Day of Christmas: the Holy Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

H<\/span>appy fourth day of Christmas! Today,<\/span> the Church usually celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents<\/a>. Because it’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, it is instead the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph<\/a>. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Russian Icon of the Holy Family<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And more than that, this being an icon and not just a pattern or ideal, we are given an icon of a holy<\/em> family life centered on God. This family was beset by the problems of the world – from being refugees in Egypt from Herod’s wrath right up until the moment Mary’s heart broke at the sight of her son’s brutal torture and execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, they made for themselves a home, wherever they were. A home of love and domestic joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, today’s psalm reminds us that even in the midst of the family home, we are only pilgrims upon this earth, journeying towards our heavenly home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

H<\/span>appy they who dwell in your house!<\/em>
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– from Psalm 84, Responsorial Psalm for today’s Feast
(second option)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Through all their joys and travails, the Holy Family discerned and followed the will of God, and they turned to each other. They become not just the model but the very definition of a holy family.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Today’s feast is of relatively modern origin. Although the devotion dates to the 15th century (at least), the feast originated in the early 19th\u00a0century in Canada. It was added to the universal calendar by Pope Benedict XV in 1921 and was initially celebrated on the Sunday following the Epiphany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy fourth day of Christmas! Today, the Church usually celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Because it’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, it is instead the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father. Russian Icon of the Holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,5,31,16,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual","category-holy-days","category-mary","category-saint","category-seasons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Gerrit_van_Honthorst_Holy_Family_in_the_Carpentry_Shop_525.jpg?fit=525%2C440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sEw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90364,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-fourth-day-of-christmas-the-holy-innocents\/","url_meta":{"origin":110144,"position":0},"title":"The Fourth Day of Christmas: the Holy Innocents","author":"Thom","date":"28 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy fourth day of Christmas! Today we pause a moment in our revelry for the feast of the Holy Innocents. Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/holy-innocents-rachel-weeping.jpg?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/holy-innocents-rachel-weeping.jpg?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/holy-innocents-rachel-weeping.jpg?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/holy-innocents-rachel-weeping.jpg?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/holy-innocents-rachel-weeping.jpg?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90379,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-sixth-day-of-christmas-the-holy-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":110144,"position":1},"title":"The Sixth Day of Christmas: the Holy Family","author":"Thom","date":"30 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy sixth day of Christmas! Today we celebrate the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father. And more than that, this being an icon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Holy-Family-e1363717547408.jpg?fit=778%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Holy-Family-e1363717547408.jpg?fit=778%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Holy-Family-e1363717547408.jpg?fit=778%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Holy-Family-e1363717547408.jpg?fit=778%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90355,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-second-day-of-christmas-the-feast-of-stephen\/","url_meta":{"origin":110144,"position":2},"title":"The Second Day of Christmas: the Feast of Stephen","author":"Thom","date":"26 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The rest of the world thinks Christmas is over, with the possible exception of those who celebrate Boxing Day today or those fond of partridges in pear trees. 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