You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Spouts. Today is Monday, December 31st, 2018. It is also New Year's Eve, as I'm sure you've known, but also in our Catholic faith, it is the feast day of the Holy Family.

Now, as you likely know, the Holy Family consisted of Mary, our Blessed Mother, of the Holy Family. Now, as you likely know, the Holy Family consisted of Mary, our Blessed

Mother, of her spouse Joseph, St. Joseph, and of course, baby Jesus, or Jesus as he grew up,

as you likely know. But what I want you to know is that we are going to be talking specifically about family

and the Holy Family this week on the Catholic Sprouts podcast. Because no matter who you are or where

you're from, you are a member of a family. And that family is so important. It is important. We

celebrate it and think about it today. But we need to remember that family is so important. It is important we celebrate it and think about it today,

but we need to remember that family is something created by God

and something given to each one of us,

something we need to really celebrate,

defend, protect, and also use in the way God intended us to use.

So let's talk about family just a little bit today.

So oftentimes our church leaders, when they're teaching about family, they call it

the domestic church.

The domestic church.

Now, I know this might be a little bit of a complicated phrase, but let's talk about what it means.

So, of course, the church is an institution where we worship God, where we learn about God, where we come together to celebrate Him, and where we really

practice and grow in our faith. The domestic church, now domestic means anything that has to do

with a family or things that we do at home. So it is a church at home. That's what a family is. Pope John Paul II, who is also a saint,

he referred to the family as a school of love, meaning we learn how to love, we learn how to

tolerate and react with charity to people in our families. As you probably feel,

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