The Holy Family

We commonly refer to the family of Jesus Christ as The Holy Family. It includes Jesus, his mother The Virgin Mary and his foster father Joseph of Nazareth. All Christians believe in the Holy Family and there are even churches named after the Holy Family. Every year, the first Sunday after the Christmas is considered the 'Feast of the Holy Family'. This Sunday is observed by the Catholic Church and Catholics all over the world consider it a sacred day. The gospel readings on that day gives us a depiction of Jesus and his family during his child days. The Catholic Church observes liturgical celebration of the feast of Holy Family in honor of Jesus, his mother The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. This trio is considered the Holy Family. It was into this Holy Family the son of our Lord was born. He was born to make us free from all our sins and protect us from evil. Veneration of The Holy Family as per historical evidence is said to have begun at the end of 17th century by Mgr Francois de Laval, a bishop from Canada who started a Confraternity. The feast of the Holy Family was stared in the Catholic Church at the time of Pope Leo XIII. It was he who took the initiative to start this feast in the Catholic Church. There are many instances in the Bible were the Holy Family is depicted. We know that Mother Mary and St. Joseph had to leave their place and come to Bethlehem near Jerusalem to give birth to Jesus Christ. Mother Mary gave birth to Jesus in a Manger in Bethlehem. Apart from this instance there are many occasions in the bible which tells us quite a bit about the life of Jesus and his family. When Jesus was at the age of twelve his parents took him to the Temple. His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year to attend the Feast of Passover. One year, as the feast ended and while they were returning, the boy Jesus went missing. Jesus stayed back in Jerusalem but his parents didn't noticed this as they believed he was somewhere in the group. When they found that he was not in their group they searched for him and returned back to Jerusalem. After three days of searching they found Jesus in the Temple sitting among elders and teachers. He was listening to their teachings and asking them questions. All were astonished with the questions that he raised and they remarked that this was not an ordinary boy. This is one of the first references of Jesus' private life in the Holy Bible. A very nice gift that you can give to someone is a statue of the Holy Family handmade made from olive wood from the Holy Land. The wood from the olive trees are from the city of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth and have been growing there for thousands of years. They are considered very holy and the statues made out of them are very popular all around the world.