Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family prompts thoughts about what really makes a family. In one sense Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are anything but a normal family: a virgin with a baby and a husband who will never have sexual relations with his wife. But in the sense that really matters they are every bit a family. Matthew 2:13-23 shows us Joseph protecting and caring for his wife and going to great lengths to save Jesus from King Herod. Joseph even leaves his livelihood behind and moves to another country. Love, not biology, is what makes a family.
In Colossians 3:12-14 St. Paul recommends some virtues that would also enrich family life: "heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience....And over all these put on love." Love, not biology, is what makes a family.
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