The Christian family is being assaulted with a vehemence which is perhaps unprecedented. Promiscuity, contraception, abortion, abuses, addictions, and divorces are rampant. Bitterness, resentments, and unforgiveness poison family relationships. Fewer families are surviving.

The Lord wants this Christmas season to be the time for a counter-assault by the Christian family on the culture of death. We need parents like St. Joseph, who will obey immediately and act decisively to save their children from death (see Mt 2:13-14). The Lord is calling spouses and parents to be ministers of reconciliation (see 2 Cor 5:18) and peacemakers (see Mt 5:9), who have accepted the grace of forgiving and being forgiven. Then these spouses and families can pray together daily and share the Scriptures together daily. These are first steps toward the family becoming what the Church has traditionally called a "domestic Church" (Catechism, 1655-1657). These family churches have the freedom to be obedient and submissive (see Eph 5:18-21). In this obedience, there is unity, and in these families' unity there is power to bring down the enemies of the family, the Herods of this world, and to replace our culture of death with a civilization of love and life.

This Christmas, make Joseph-like decisions for your family's salvation.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Richard Walling, July 7, 2004

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 19, 2004