Devotion to the Holy Family: how to live chastity
We praise and bless you, O Holy Family, for the beautiful virtue of chastity that you lived as a gift to offer to God for the kingdom of heaven. It was certainly a choice of love; in fact your souls, immersed in the heart of God and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, palpitated with pure and immaculate joy.
The law of love says: "You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind". That was a law meditated upon, loved and fully lived in the little house of Nazareth.
We know that when you truly love someone, with your thoughts and will you try to stay close to your loved one and there is no place in your heart for others. Jesus, Mary and Joseph had God in their hearts, minds and in all the actions of their life; so there was no place to fall back on thoughts, desires or things not worthy of the Lord's living presence. They lived the great reality of the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus, who had lived this reality for 30 years, will solemnly proclaim it at the beginning of his preaching, saying: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God". Mary and Joseph had meditated, lived and kept these holy words in their hearts, savoring all the truth.
Having a pure and chaste heart meant being clear and transparent in thoughts and actions. Righteousness and sincerity were two values rooted so deeply in the hearts of those holy people that the mud of passions and impurity did not touch them in the least. Their appearance was sweet and luminous because it had the face of the ideal that they lived within. Their life was calm and serene because they were as if immersed in the heart of God, which makes everything more beautiful and peaceful, even when iniquity rages around.
Their cottage was bare of material beauty, but it was resplendent with pure and holy joy.
God sanctified us with Baptism; the Holy Spirit strengthened us with Confirmation; Jesus fed us with his Body and his Blood: we have become the temple of the Holy Trinity! Here Jesus, Mary and Joseph teach us how to preserve the treasure of the virtue of chastity: living a constant and loving presence of God in us