A family… the word evokes people, different people of course –
each with his/her own character, likes and dislikes, weaknesses and strengths.
Every single member has a personal history and… a personal DNA, of course!
This description brings to my mind the picture of… a quilt!
Yes, a piece of patch-work serving as a colourful blanket to some of us.
Looking at a quilt what is most striking is that it includes so many different pieces of various sizes and colours.
When starting to put them together, one may think that they will not match, or fit together.
One may fear that the final look may be unpleasant, even jarring.
And yet… the finished piece is so pleasant to the eye – a masterpiece, really.
And so is a family – or… so it should be!
People, different, yes, but accepting one another.
Perhaps strongly autonomous and original, but valued for what each contributes to the group.
Thinking about it… it was somehow the same with the Holy Family!
Mary, a young woman pregnant, not by the man she is promised to, but by God’s own Spirit!
Joseph, a decent young man, dreaming of soon bringing home his beloved; but he suddenly thinks he must make another plan…
A baby born like others, it seems, but is he only an ordinary child?…
When he grows up, his mother and adoptive father will have cause to wonder… (Luke 2:41-52).
The birth had taken place during a journey imposed by a political leader – 
not in some cozy surrounding with a nice crib to welcome this new-born.
A shelter from the rain for shepherds, a ‘grotto’ people would call it nowadays.
But, in spite of this…
One, really only one, thing matters to that Family – and, in fact, to all our own families:
God is present to all that happens, to all that these people live –
a real patchwork of experiences,
each one blessed by the One who has made himself ‘God-with-us’.
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/sainte-famille-de-jesus-marie-joseph-annee-c-2021/
Source: Images: Wallpaper Access Free Bible Images Church of Jesus Christ
These are the very words with which the angel Gabriel greeted Mary.