The way things are going, it seems that the family is fast becoming an endangered species. Powerful forces are undermining it. Many movies, books, and news reports no longer portray the family as a sanctuary of love and belonging, but as an oppressive institution that breeds harm and unhappiness. Time Magazine once published an essay that described the family as a nest of pathology, a cradle of gruesome violence, and the source of all discontent.

These bleak views extend even to the values that sustain family life, especially love. For instance, another article in Time Magazine reduced love to a mere chemical combination of hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain. The implication is clear. There is nothing sacred or mysterious about love. We romanticize it only because we are ignorant of the biological processes involved.

Fidelity fares no better. Some anthropologists insist that infidelity is embedded in our genes, arguing that evolution proves monogamy to be the exception rather than the rule. Popular culture reinforces this belief, as movie and television personalities openly flaunt their serial adultery, presenting unfaithfulness as normal, even inevitable. No wonder, divorce has become prevalent today.

And marriage? One may argue that a lot of people still get married to form a family. Yet statistics paint a troubling picture. More couples are cohabiting without marriage, while the number of unwed mothers and single-parent households has risen dramatically. Alternative family arrangements continue to multiply, demanding legal and social recognition. Marriage is increasingly viewed as optional, temporary, or even unnecessary.

Worse still, in many countries, couples consider their lifestyle viable only if they have no children. Radical feminists consider their womb as a kind of biological factory and the unborn child is a mere cluster of cells, dismissively labeled a “fetus” that can be aborted anytime by the mother.

This mindset fosters a culture that condones abortion. Advocates for abortion laws argue that since women will seek abortions anyway, the procedure should be legal and should not jeopardize their reproductive health. They forget the health of someone, the unborn child, for whom no abortion will ever be safe.

The Guttmacher Institute reported that in 2020 there were approximately 930,000 induced abortions in the United States, rising to over one million in 2024 in states with legal access. This results in an immense number of aborted bodies requiring disposal. What becomes of them?

Many pharmaceutical and medical industries begin to see aborted fetuses as raw material. Stem cell researchers experiment on fetal tissues for potential cures and organ substitutes. Cosmetic medicine has even explored the use of fetal tissue for anti-aging treatments. Human life, stripped of dignity, is reduced to a commodity.

Today, on the Feast of the Holy Family, we are given a timeless and countercultural model for families struggling to hold together amid modern pressures. Our Gospel reading today presents the Holy Family as beset with uncertainty, displacement, poverty, and suffering (Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23). Yet they remained grounded in faith, love, and obedience to God.

In a world where authentic values have been largely subverted by consumerism and materialism, Mary’s faithful YES and Joseph’s quiet obedience reveal that family life rests on the couple’s commitment to their vows, and their trust in God. Indeed, what if Joseph had refused Mary upon learning of her pregnancy? What if Mary had asserted her absolute autonomy, invoked her reproductive rights, and decided to abort Jesus?

Despite the pressures and trials they faced, Mary and Joseph remained obedient to God’s will. For sure, they achieved this, not by relying on their strength, but by entrusting their lives to God in prayer. Indeed, the family that prays together stays together.

It was from Mary and Joseph that Jesus learned what sacrificial love looks like in everyday life. The Holy Family quietly reminds today’s families, torn by separation and internal conflicts that true human flourishing comes from faithful love, reverence for life, and trust in God’s providence. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus prove that a family is not built by grand gestures or good intentions, but by simple acts of love, done patiently and faithfully, one day at a time.