NOTE: Throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons, we have been posting reflections on the readings for Holy Days and Sundays. The reflection are available on our Advent and Christmas 2025 webpage.
The reflection below was originally written by Bishop John Stowe in 2022 for our Advent reflection booklet, Living Always in Joyful Anticipation: Reflections for Advent and Christmas 2022.
by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv.
Originally published in 2022
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 | Colossians 3:12-17 | Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. — Colossians 3:15
The other day we reflected on the sad chapter of the very first days of Jesus’ life when his family fled to Egypt in order to save him from being slaughtered. Today we continue that gospel story as we reflect on this human family into which Jesus was born. If the incarnation is all about God identifying with the people made in his image and likeness, Mary and Joseph are people with whom most of us can identify as well. Granted they are part of a very significant story and what they experience has ramifications well beyond themselves. Also granted that Mary and Joseph were somehow prepared and blessed with the graces needed to fulfill their unique roles, they are still quite human figures. We should let their stories and the record of their actions come to life and not only consider them in the silent and holy still-life scene of the manger.
Joseph, as we reflected back in Advent, had all of the responsibilities of the father of Jesus, but none of the privileges. The carpenter’s son was to be known as the Son of God, and frequently we hear an adult Jesus talking about the importance of doing his Father’s business. Joseph must have been fearful to think that the king was after his foster son; how would he explain any failure to protect him to the Almighty One? Mary must have wondered how shepherds on Christmas night knew who her son was; she must have been stunned by the arrival of these magi from the East who know of the significance of her son, and she really had to rely on Joseph when they were under threat. The gospels don’t tell us how long Jesus and his family stayed in Egypt.
One would think that the parents of God’s own son would have preserved from a lot of worry and heartache, but just as they never exempted themselves from the practice of the Law of Moses, they probably never expected to be exempted from the hardships of life.
How many families are struggling now from fear of deportation or denial of their refugee status? How many families are quite different from the father-mother-child norm of the Holy Family? Today we celebrate that God was born into the human family – a holy family of which we are all a part.
>> For more resources and reflections from throughout the Advent and Christmas season, click here.
>>Bishop Stowe and Michael Angel Martin have co-authored the Lent 2026 reflection booklet, Peace compels us, available for pre-order now!