Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
December 28, 2025
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He shall be called a Nazorean.
How much significance do you give to your dreams? Would you be willing to uproot your family—to move to another state or country—based on a dream? How many of us have that much faith?
Beyond this passage, nothing else is told of Joseph in Matthew’s Gospel, but it is enough for us to see his obedience and openness to hearing God’s calling. It’s a beautiful example of faith and trust in God. The events of these few verses clearly demonstrate how God’s mysterious kingdom can be served by an individual simply acting on what they have been called to do.
Like Joseph, even though we trust in God, we are often afraid. We are wary of instability, frightened of failure, and fearful of harm to ourselves or to those we love—surely Joseph felt the same after his dream. Despite the discomfort and uncertainty introduced by God’s call, Joseph recognized it and acted upon it, and his faithfulness quietly safeguarded the Holy Family. We can follow his example.
This Christmastide, let us pray for the grace to bypass our fear and better listen to God speaking in our lives. Whether we start by taking five seconds of silence to turn towards our Lord during the busiest time of our day in order to recognize God calling amid the clamor of the work around us, or we act on something we’ve been avoiding because we find it inconvenient, daunting, or uncertain—as we come into this New Year, let us find a way to live more fully the lives of faith and radical love to which we are called.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-living God, may this time of Christmas keep us mindful of the ways your Son is present to us, in all we hear and see and touch. In him, the one whose name we call Emmanuel, is our joy complete. We pray this in his name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The Feast of the Holy Family is an important feast in the life of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation, envisioned a community of priests, sisters, and brothers, all united together just as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were united together in the Holy Family.
In fact, Blessed Moreau established the Sacred Heart of Jesus as patron of the priests, St. Joseph as patron of the brothers, and Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, as patron of the sisters (she is also patron of the congregation as a whole).
Blessed Moreau wanted this community to be rooted in the virtues that were present in Jesus’ home in Nazareth. Following the model of love offered by the Holy Family, the Holy Cross community attends to one another in their struggles, assists one another in their good works, and celebrates together in times of joy.
All of us come from a family, and though few of our families are as holy as the Holy Family, the relationships between parents and children, spouses and siblings, continually offer opportunities to grow in virtue and in service to one another.
Today's featured image of the Holy Family comes from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art on campus and is used with their permission. To enjoy more of the Raclin Murphy Museum's images on the Holy Family, visit their collection here. Relics of the Holy Family rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, including a fragment of Jesus’ crib and a portion of the cloth band with which Mary carried Jesus when she and Joseph fled to Egypt.
On this feast of the Holy Family, may we serve each other and grow in holiness within our families!
To learn even more about the Holy Family watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
Image Credit: Simon Vouet (French, 1590-1649), The Holy Family, ca. 1604, oil on canvas. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Joyce McMahon Hank, 1983.023