Reflecting on 2024 and Embracing 2025 with the Holy Family

by Fr. John Granato  |  12/29/2024  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

In a few days we will begin the year 2025. What a year this past 2024 has been for all of us, not only in your circle of family and friends but also in the country and in the world. A new year always brings a new hope, just as every newborn baby brings forth new hope as well. On January 1st, we honor the Blessed Mother under her title, the Mother of God. Given to us by her Son as our mother, we experience her mother’s heart as she prays for all her children, bringing us in her Immaculate Heart to the Sacred Heart of her Son.

As Jesus is the Prince of Peace, our Blessed Mother becomes the Mother of Peace. In a violent world, which seems to get more violent with every passing month, it is important for us to turn to the Blessed Mother and pray our rosary and ask her intercession to bring peace into our hearts and in our families. Today, the first Sunday after Christmas, we honor the Holy Family, acknowledging the role of St. Joseph in the life of Mary and Jesus. Ending the current year with a focus on the family and beginning the new year with the focus on our Blessed Mother’s love as the Mother of God, we have many opportune times as followers of Christ to be an image and an icon of the Holy Family.

When a man and a woman marry in a sacramental ceremony, they image Jesus’ love for his bride the Church. St. Paul calls this a great mystery, and married couples participate in this same mystery sacramentally. St. Paul also says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Many families are “broken” families, but with the grace of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus Christ, families can always experience true healing and reconciliation.

Mary, Mother of God, and St. Joseph, Most Chaste Spouse, pray for us and for our families and for our culture. Happy New Year.