FEAST
OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH
On this first
Sunday after Christmas, the Liturgy invites us to celebrate the Feast of the
Holy Family of Nazareth. Indeed, every nativity scene shows us Jesus together
with Our Lady and St Joseph in the grotto of Bethlehem. God wanted to be born
into a human family, he wanted to have a mother and father like us. The Gospel
presents the Holy Family to us on the sorrowful road of exile, seeking refuge
in Egypt. Joseph, Mary and Jesus experienced the tragic fate of refugees, which
is marked by fear, uncertainty and unease.
Unfortunately, in our own time, millions of families can identify with
this sad reality. Almost every day the television and papers carry news of
refugees fleeing from hunger, war and other grave dangers, in search of
security and a dignified life for themselves and for their families.
Jesus wanted
to belong to a family who experienced these hardships, so that no one would
feel excluded from the loving closeness of God. The flight into Egypt caused by
Herod’s threat shows us that God is present where man is in danger, where man
is suffering, where he is fleeing, where he experiences rejection and
abandonment; but God is also present where man dreams, where he hopes to return
in freedom to his homeland and plans and chooses life for his family and
dignity for himself and his loved ones.
Today our
gaze on the Holy Family lets us also be drawn into the simplicity of the life
they led in Nazareth. It is an example that does our families great good,
helping them increasingly to become communities of love and reconciliation, in
which tenderness, mutual help, and mutual forgiveness is experienced. Let us
remember the three key words for living in peace and joy in the family: “may
I”, “thank you” and “sorry”. In our family, when we are not intrusive and ask
“may I”, in our family when we are not selfish and learn to say “thank you”,
and when in a family one realizes he has done something wrong and knows how to
say “sorry”, in that family there is peace and joy. Let us remember these three
words. Can we repeat them all together: may I, thank you, sorry. I would also
like to encourage families to become aware of the importance they have in the
Church and in society. The proclamation of the Gospel, in fact, first passes
through the family to reach the various spheres of daily life.
Let us
fervently call upon Mary Most Holy, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, and St
Joseph her spouse. Let us ask them to enlighten, comfort and guide every family
in the world, so that they may fulfill with dignity and peace the mission which
God has entrusted to them.
~ POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS Sunday
December 29, 2013
