Families are defined certainly by the people in them. We have our close, blood-relation families, and also the Church, which is a family of people God has chosen to be His children. In these close-knit communities, in the midst of our struggles, we strive to make God present to each other in the love we show to one another. It's like Pope Francis spoke of so beautifully at the Concluding Mass of the World Meeting of Families: We experience God and His love in those small acts of kindness. We live in His love knowing He first loved us into His family, making us His children not by flesh and blood, but through His Spirit.
In coming to our world, Jesus Christ made Himself to be born into a family. And by living in a family, He gives all of us an example of how to be family, namely in the love we show for one another, and, ultimately, for God, as Jesus demonstrated when He stayed behind in Jerusalem at the Temple, where His Father dwelled. We dedicate ourselves, like Hannah dedicated Samuel, and Jesus dedicated Himself, to be in His presence forever. And we share that presence with one another, living righteously, and living love, which carries us through to Eternal Life.
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