One thing we hear in this week’s readings—and last week as well—is a quiet reminder of Jesus’ “Great Commandment”: Love your neighbor as yourself, as well as another one of his most important messages: Forgive others; judge not.

People admired our family on Sunday mornings. My parents would herd the eight of us kids into the station wagon, haul us to church, and shepherd us into a pew midway up to the front. Stretched across the whole row, we created a barrier of familial piety for those behind us.

After the scholars were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him.”

WE ALL have them. Some are as fresh as morning, newly uplifting or maybe in need of painful analysis. When recalled some come back bringing a smile or possibly a grimace to our face. Others rest somewhere in between. Family is a good place for them. It’s the place to bury embarrassing secrets and negative ones.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

This week Saint Joseph picks up where he left off showing one of his chief virtues, his willingness to hear and pay attention to God, by acting on his instructions from the angel right away.

On the walls of the North American headquarters of the Divine Word Missionaries there is a painting from China that depicts the Holy Family living as Chinese peasants. What’s especially interesting is that the painting shows them to be poor.

We have spouses and children and parents and colleagues and friends, because someone has to know us better than we know ourselves. —Richard Russo