The Feast of the Holy Family
and St John the Evangelist, the third day of Christmas
Today, the Feast of the Holy Family, is a moveable feast in the church, occurring on the first Sunday after Christmas.
I like this painting, The Nativity by Gari Melchers because it shows the exhaustion that Mary and Joseph must have felt after the flight into Egypt and the birth of Jesus. Melchers was an American artist, born in 1860 in Detroit. One of his most famous paintings is The Supper at Emmaus. You can see that what Melchers does with light is extraordinary.
Here’s a poem by the wonderful Malcolm Guite for the Feast of St John, overshadowed today by the Feast of the Holy Family.
This is the gospel of the primal light,
The first beginning, and the fruitful end,
The soaring glory of an eagle’s flight,
The quiet touch of a beloved friend.
This is the gospel of our transformation,
Water to wine and grain to living bread,
Blindness to sight and sorrow to elation,
And Lazarus himself back from the dead!
This is the gospel of all inner meaning,
The heart of heaven opened to the earth,
A gentle friend on Jesus’ bosom leaning,
And Nicodemus offered a new birth.
No need to search the heavens high above,
Come close with John, and feel the pulse of Love.
And for the third day of Christmas we have three french hens…faith, hope, and love.