For people who may be new to the topic of the Holy Family, who are the members of the Holy Family and what roles do they play?
The title “Holy Family” refers to the holiest family that has ever been on earth, which consisted of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph. The Blessed Virgin Mary was obviously the mother. Jesus was a child, and then St. Joseph played the role of Christ's earthly father, but then his biological father was God himself.
What does the Holy Family teach us?
The Holy Family lived in a plain old little house in a small cottage surrounded by normal working people. Mary was a normal stay at home mom. Joseph was a normal working dad who was a carpenter. Jesus was a normal child, but the only perfect child. They lived their life in simplicity that nobody realized the Blessed Virgin Mary was raising the Son of God down the road.
As women, how can we imitate Mary in our lives especially in the role of motherhood?
“Do you remember those gummy bracelets we wore back in middle school that said ‘WWJD?’ on them? I asked myself that question a lot growing up. But now as a mother I ask myself, ‘What would Mary do? What would she do right now?’ Obviously she did everything in motherhood perfectly.” -Theresa
There are ten principal virtues associated with Mary:
- Profound Humility
- Lively Faith
- Blind Obedience
- Continual Prayer
- Universal Mortification
- Divine Purity
- Ardent Charity
- Heroic Patience
- Angelic Sweetness
- Divine Wisdom
These virtues are so apical to women in general, but as mothers, tenfold. If you think of the mother of a toddler, every day she’s practicing heroic patience as her child is tugging at her skirt or asking things of her.
What have you found to be good ways to incorporate the Holy Family into your home?
“For me, I pray the rosary every single day. I feel like it brings me so much closer to Mary. Another thing I do is simple ten second prayers where I ask Jesus to help me imitate his mother. I mumble them while I do the dishes or when my child is asking for my attention. I also try to read books about Mary so I can continue to grow my knowledge about her.
My husband prays out of a St. Joseph prayer book every day. He did the thirty-three day consecration to St. Joseph a few years ago. He also has a little St. Joseph statue next to his bed that we gifted him for Father’s Day.
We remind our children that they can have loving obedience and immediate obedience from God. We also dedicated our homestead to the Holy Family.” -Theresa
What is one piece of advice that you want every young Catholic woman to know?
“We’ve been talking about the Holy Family, the most perfect and holy family on Earth. It’s a lot to strive for and it’s setting the bar very high. The biggest thing is, even though that’s who we are striving for, don’t be scared to fail. Don’t be scared to go into motherhood. I know so many women who are just scared, but this is what we're made for. And if we ask God for the graces, he will give them to us.
I was a really young mother. We got married at 20, and had my first child by 21. I didn’t have a lot of friends that were moms. I didn’t have a lot of strong mothers in my life that were positive mother figures. I really leaned on Mary in that season. And for everyone who is lacking a mother mentor, who's lacking a mother in their life because of divorce, because of all these different things, lean on Mary, she is there for us. She is our Heavenly mother, and she's available to everyone. Everybody can ask her for help. Everyone can pray the rosary. Everyone can ask her for advice and ponder her life. She's available to us all.” -Theresa