Some of my favorite meditations during the Rosary focus on the Holy Family. I find many lessons in their lives, mostly unsaid, which help us understand how we need to live our lives in this fallen world. When God gave them each a unique mission for our salvation, each member of the family did as requested. Take in a bride and adopt a baby as your own...St Joseph check. Flee to Egypt and leave EVERYTHING behind in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT...Check. Watch your child die on the cross, innocent of everything except being our just and holy savior...check.

In our faith community of Regina Caeli Academy we had two mothers pass away during the past month in Texas. One from cancer, and the other suddenly during delivery of her third child. Each woman left behind a family lead my faithful men of the church. For them I pray the example of the Holy Family provides a path to continued holiness, and reunion in heaven. These husbands had strong families of faith, and now face a period where they may feel the heat and cold of a desert journey until they reach safety of peace in understanding the will of God. In some ways it reminds me of Joseph and Mary as they carried their child Jesus to from Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth. A long journey which must occur under the guidance of faith to succeed.

As we gather for Thanksgiving, remember families like these two around the country. Pray the light of Christ stays strong in them and their children. May it be lit by their desire to obtain the graces of heaven, and rejoin their mother in eternal life. It should be a prayer for all of us as well. God wants us all to come home.

-ehw