Enjoy Simple Foods and Family Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family

Happy Feast of the Holy Family and New Year's Eve!

We celebrated this morning with a simple, symbolic breakfast, prayers, and a chat.  If you'd like to do similarly, you simply need:

• an image or figurines of the Holy Family.
• something representative of S. Joseph's carpentry trade.  I cut gluten-free waffles as lumber.  You could use toast strips, pretzel sticks, French toast sticks, cookies or crackers ground to "sawdust", chicken strips, just about anything representative of saw dust, lumber, or woodworking tools.
• a blue food.  We used blueberries.  You could use almost anything though if you are a family that uses dyes.  (We don't.)
• a white and a red food.  We used dye-free marshmallows and raspberries, but, again, anything can work.  Baby Bella cheese comes to mind for those without casein sensitivities.

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With these, it is easy to introduce and chat about the Feast of the Holy Family.

Ask if anyone knows what feast day it is.  Pray a Consecration to the Holy Family prayer like the one the Knights of Columbus shares.  Then, ask if your family can guess why you chose to lay out the foods you did. 

Using your family's ideas about the foods an their symbolism, chat about the Holy Family and reflect about what we can learn from them.  Your conversation might flow with some of these points and questions:

• Yes, Joseph was a carpenter, which was a perfect profession for the foster Father of Jesus in so many ways.  Why do you think it was... It may have allowed Joseph to find work in Egypt to support his family when he obeyed God's word through the message of an angel and moved his family suddenly for an indefinite period of time... What gifts and talents do we have?... How do we use them to follow God's will for our lives? ... How do they equip us to do hard things?... Do we obey like Joseph?
  
  

  

  You may wish to draw your children's attention to an image of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt after talking about Joseph, reiterating how readily Joseph listened to and obeyed God's will and how Joseph's gift of carpentry likely made it easier for him to break into the Egyptian community he temporarily settled his family in, providing for their daily needs while ensuring their protection.  This image by Giotti in The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L'Engle is one we like.

• Yes, one of Mary's symbolic colors is blue.. Did you know blue can remind people to follow God's will not our own as Mary did? ... What is God's will for children? ... And for parents?... Did you know the color blue was once also associated with royalty and is often thought of as heavenly...  So, yes, it reminds us of Mary being Queen of Heaven..  How can we make Lady in Heaven smile?

After chatting about Mary, you may wish to draw your children's attention to images of the Mary living her call as Mother of Jesus.  We like these pages in Mary by Brian Wildsmith as they depict every day life as well as the Biblical scene of finding Jesus in the temple.  As we look at them, we call to mind how we sometimes live our vocations alongside others, at other times with the aid of others, and, at still other times,by ourselves, yet still with others in mind.  The collection of images also remind us that families sometimes live in obvious peace and harmony, while, at other times, face challenges and concerns, yet, at all times, God is with us.

• How about the white and red foods?  Who do they remind us of? Yes!  White reminds us of Jesus' purity even as He took a human form, and red calls to mind His willingness to become a sacrifice for us... Isn't it awesome that He came to earth? Isn't it wonderful that He is still here with us?... Where?... How?... Where can we draw close to Him?... How can we live continually encountering Him?
  
  

  

  We were reminded during our meal of how Jesus truly came to offer pure and sacrificial love for us when we spotted a perfect heart among our symbolic red and white foods.

• And, isn't it beautiful that God chose to bring Jesus as a baby? To put him in a family? He chose a perfect family for Jesus  and has chosen a perfect for us one for us... He wants us to love and face challenges as a family.. Seriously, have you ever thought about how God designed the Holy Family for one another perfectly?  How did He do it?... Yes, Joseph's trade prepared him to be a provider for his family...  His faith helped him trust during hard situations...  His love and obedience helped him keep his family safe...  And, yes, Mary was conceived immaculately... She was loving and ready to say, "yes", to God... And Jesus was willing to come in the form of a helpless baby, to grow in wisdom and stature under the authority of His parents and of God until His public ministry began... Indeed, they were a family ideally matched...  Ours is, too.  Even when it does not seem like it.  Even when life is hard.  We were not put together as a family haphazardly.  God purposefully placed us together so His will may be done...  Do you have any thoughts about that...
  
  

  

  
  

You may also find your children get silly, building with the "lumber"...

... making raspberries and marshmallows into a nativity scene...

... or pouring God's sweet love (maple syrup) over everything before digging in.

In our home, that is all a part of the fun of faith sharing through good, as long as the children know that playing with food is not acceptable in every circumstance, and they can maintain proper etiquette when called to do so.

On this Feast of the Holy Family, my desire has been to embrace faith and family, looking towards the Holy Family as a model of how we can be diligent in our work, say "yes" to God, persevere in prayer, and be charitable with one another and with others, too.  God put the Holy Family together for a reason and has done the same with our own families, however big or small, no matter what challenges or obvious blessings we are currently immersed in.

I pray the Octave of Christmas has been blessed and beautiful for you and yours and you are able to close 2017 with thanksgiving while also preparing to welcome 2018 with excitement.  

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us.