On December 29 we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, and on January 5 the Epiphany. In his Wednesday’s audience of December 17, 2014, Pope Francis reminded us that the family is God’s great gift to the world, given to us “when he entrusted to Adam and Eve the mission of multiplying and filling the earth.” Jesus later confirmed and sealed this gift, especially by coming into the world in a family, a family composed of him, Mary, and Joseph.
God chose to be born in a human family, “in a remote village in the outer reaches of the Roman Empire. Not in Rome, the capital of the Empire, not in a great city, but in an almost invisible and somewhat notorious periphery.” Jesus was born in the periphery, not in some spectacular place or way, not “as a warrior, an emperor… No – he came as the son of a family, in a family.” God chose to be born, not at the center of attention or in great power, but on the periphery. The Pope went on to say:
“Jesus chose to remain in the periphery for thirty years, during which there is no mention of miracles or healing, of preaching, of crowds who run after him. In Nazareth, everything seems to happen ‘normally’, according to the habits of a pious and hard-working family of Israelites.”
This is why it is so easy to relate to the God who became a little baby—he is so much like us. He is poor. He is hard working. He is so normal. He doesn’t overpower us, but even submits to become a victim on the Cross out of love for us. How much we can learn, by reflecting on the Holy Family, about the true, humble, and submissive love found in the family:
“Certainly, it is not difficult to imagine how much mothers could learn from Mary’s tender care for her Son! And how much fathers could benefit from the example of Joseph, a righteous man, who dedicated his life to supporting and defending his wife and child—his family—through difficult times. To say nothing of how much the young could be encouraged by the adolescent Jesus in understanding the necessity and beauty of cultivating their deepest vocation, and of having great dreams.”
The Pope also mentions how all Christian families must welcome the baby Jesus—to make room for the new life that God sends them—just as Mary and Joseph did. In caring for their own children, Christian families welcome Jesus.
“[They] listen to Him, speak with Him, shelter Him, protect Him, grow with Him; and in this way, make the world better. Let us make space in our heart and in our days for the Lord. This is what Mary and Joseph did, and it was not easy: how many difficulties they had to overcome! It was not a false or unreal family. The family of Nazareth calls to us to rediscover the vocation and the mission of the family, of every family. And so what happened in those thirty years in Nazareth can also happen to us: making love, not hate, normal; mutual help common, instead of indifference and hostility. It is not by chance that Nazareth means ‘she who preserves’, like Mary who, as the Gospel tells us, ‘treasured all these things in her heart’. From then on, whenever there is a family that preserves this mystery, even if it should be at the outer reaches of the world, the mystery of the Son of God is at work. And He comes to save the world.”
May all our St. Mary of the Angels families rediscover their vocation and mission. May we as a Catholic parish and school rediscover our vocation to support families, helping them lead their children to that great family gathering—the ultimate “Christmas” gathering!—that we will experience together in heaven.
