When was the last time someone promised you something that was never fulfilled? … Or how many times have you made promises that you never kept? It seems to me that the readings during these days speak to us about promises… but promises that have been fulfilled! Promises that are fulfilled by a faithful God, a God who is Emmanuel: God-is-withus! As we gather to celebrate this Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we are invited to thanksgiving but we are also invited to healing and compassion; we are invited to look at the past with gentleness, to look into the future with hope and to see the many blessings that life is offering us, even in the midst of a pandemic. In our own families promises are made. Sometimes they are fulfilled, sometimes they are not. Our families might not be perfect… probably we have been hurt as we grew up, but we are still called to hope. In the second reading, St. Paul invites the Colossians and invites us to put on “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.” These are qualities we all need as followers of Christ, as people who live in a world that has become “smaller” each day. On this last Sunday of the year and on this great feast of the Holy Family, we hear the call to “put on love… and let the peace of Christ control our hearts, the peace into which we were also called in one body. And be thankful.” May we always learn from the God who is our shield and who is always faithful to the promises God has made.