Readings:
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5.
Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17
Mt 2:13-15, 19-23

“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt…”

Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, the Church invites us to contemplate not an idealized or sentimental image of family life, but a family marked by danger, displacement, and radical trust in God.

The Gospel tells us that after the visit of the Magi, “the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt.’” With these words, the Holy Family enters the long and painful history of exile. To protect the life of their child Jesus, Mary and Joseph flee their violent homeland and seek refuge as migrants in a foreign country.

Despite the hardships, Joseph obeys immediately. He does not question. He does not delay. He rises in the night and takes responsibility for the lives entrusted to him. Later, when Herod has died, Joseph is again attentive to God’s voice and resettles his family in Nazareth. The Holy Family’s life is shaped by discernment, courage, and trust, not by comfort or security. The Church has long recognized the profound meaning of this Gospel. From the beginning, the Church has understood that to care for migrants and refugees is not optional but instead flows directly from the Gospel.

This journey of exile reveals the essence of the Holy Family’s witness. In 1952, Pope Pius XII, in his apostolic constitution Exsul Familia Nazarethana, pointed to the flight into Egypt and taught that the Holy Family is “the archetype of every migrant, refugee, and displaced person.”

He reminded the Church that Jesus himself experienced exile, poverty, and survived by the hospitality of strangers. Their escape to Egypt should speak to every human heart as we internalize the pathos of the Holy Family’s desperation in leaving their home in order to save their own lives and the life of their newborn.

In remembering this, we recall the witness of Pope Francis, whose first pastoral visit outside Rome was to Lampedusa, the Italian island that has become a symbol of modern migration tragedies. There, he mourned the many who died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea, calling our consciences to account so that such loss would not be repeated. He urged all of us to reject what he called the “globalization of indifference” or the temptation to look away when our brothers and sisters suffer.

For Francis, the plight of migrants is not abstract. It is Christ’s face in distress. He has repeatedly reminded the Church that to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants and refugees is not merely charitable, but a gospel imperative. We are called to see strangers as the homeless, migrant Christ child himself who cries out to us for our protection and hospitality in order to regain their dignity and have a chance to flourish as human beings.

Pope Leo XIV has urgently echoed this same Gospel imperative. He has spoken directly about migrants facing harsh treatment, especially in the United States, and has insisted that all people be treated with humanity and dignity. He has called the degrading treatment of migrants extremely disrespectful and reminded us that no one loses their God-given dignity because of legal status. When he learned that migrants in immigration detention were being denied pastoral care at the Broadview facility near Chicago, he spoke forcefully about their spiritual rights, insisting that Christ must not be kept from them.

This brings us back to the Holy Family. Joseph and Mary protected Jesus not only by fleeing danger, but by ensuring he could grow, live, and worship in safety. Today, Jesus asks us to do the same. For Christ is still present in the migrant child, in the refugee mother, in the father detained far from his family. To follow Jesus means to protect Jesus where he is most vulnerable.

The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that family life is sacred but also fragile. Families are threatened not only by moral confusion but by violence, poverty, and forced displacement. When families are torn apart, when children live in fear, and when parents are treated as disposable, the Holy Family stands before us as both an admonition and a challenge.

Like Joseph, we are called to act.
Like Mary, we are called to trust.
Like Jesus, we are called to walk the road of vulnerability and love.

If we claim to honor the Holy Family, we must honor them not only with our words, but with the conscientiousness of our actions by resisting indifference, defending human dignity, and welcoming Christ in the stranger.

May the Holy Family intercede for us so that our hearts may be open, our faith courageous, and our love strong enough to recognize and protect Jesus wherever he is found today.

Fr. Enzo Del Brocco, CP
President