In a
beautiful address on December 28, 2011, at his Wednesday audience, Pope
Benedict XVI spoke of the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Here is a short
excerpt: "The house of Nazareth is a school of prayer where we learn to
listen, to meditate, to penetrate the deepest meaning of the manifestation of
the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
"The
Holy Family is an icon of the domestic Church, which is called to pray
together. The family is the first school of prayer where, from their infancy,
children learn to perceive God thanks to the teaching and example of their
parents. An authentically Christian education cannot neglect the experience of
prayer. If we do not learn to pray in the family, it will be difficult to fill
this gap later. I would, then, like to invite people to rediscover the beauty
of praying together as a family, following the school of the Holy Family of
Nazareth.
The
Christian family is the first cell of the whole Church. It is the place where
we begin the journey toward holiness and become more fully human. The Incarnate
Word, Jesus Christ, became one of us. He was born into a human family. That was
neither accidental nor incidental. There, in what the late Pope Paul VI called
the "School of Nazareth", we can learn the way of love. The late Pope's
reflection called "The Example of Nazareth" is in the Office of
Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours (the breviary) for the Feast of the Holy
family. …
From
antiquity the Christian family has rightly been called a "domestic
church." In our life within the Christian family, Jesus Christ is truly
present. However, we need the eyes to see Him at work, the ears to hear His
instruction and the hearts to make a place for Him to dwell. In our family, we
can learn the way of selfless love by enrolling in the School of Nazareth.”
e Pope Benedict
XVI
