SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY FAMILY - B

The Church, being a great pedagogue, makes us progress in the knowledge of Jesus. Not many days ago, we saw the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem, laid down in a manger, the shepherds adored him and the angels sang: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests (Lk 2:14).

Today, we leave Bethlehem and we go to a town without importance where Jesus lived all his youth. There we find the Holy Family, example and model for all Christian families.

I want to emphasize that God came to the world in a family. He could have appeared in other ways, but it did not happen; he wanted to live in a family, like all of us.

The family of Nazareth was a family open to God. God occupied the first place, not the last one, in the holidays as well as in the workable days, at work and during free time, in joys and also in sorrows. A couple and a son, always ready to do the will of God. A family who obeys the Law of Moses, as Saint Luke tells us in the gospel of the Purification of Mary and in the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (see Lk 2:21-38).

A poor family, but not a miserable one. According to tradition, Joseph was a carpenter. A carpenter in a small town is a man who sustains the house, and his wife helps him. Thus was the home of Nazareth, a humble, simple family, without wealth pretensions. What they offered in the Temple was a pair of turtledoves and two young pigeons, thus revealing their poverty situation (see Lk 2:24).

A family who shared with others. We see Mary going to serve her cousin Isabel (see Lk 1:39), and Jesus coming to announce the good news to the poor.

If we wanted to summarize in a few words what was the family of Nazareth like, we would say that it was a family full of God and full of love for the brethren.

Our families are formed by the couple, the children, the grandparents and other relatives.

Allow me to say something to all of you in this celebration of the Holy Family.

To the couples, I say to you what Saint Paul said in the second reading (Col 3:12-21): That you bear with one another and that you forgive one another and, above all, that you love one another and that you grow in love.

Why are there are so many divorces? Because couples don’t bear with one another.

To parents, I recommend that they really love one another, that their love grow every day more and more. That the Word of God abound in their Christian homes and that they give a Christian education to their children.

We have often spoken abut the education that parents have to give to their children. Remember that it is not enough with words, but that words have to be accompanied by the example. If the father or the mother do not respect the grandparents, how can they ask their children to respect them?

Also to you, parents, I want to tell you that when you see that your duty compels you to say no, you should say no, although it may be difficult for you. To educate does not mean that you have to always say yes, although it may be easier.

To the children, I recall the first reading. That they honour and respect their parents even when they grow old and conduct becomes sometimes awkward. We used to say that there were many children who did not have parents, now we can say that there are many parents who don’t have children.

One of the great businesses is retirement homes. Why a father who has fed, supported, educated and has seen his children become men, cannot be fed or be given affection and support by these same children in their homes?

Finally, I would want to emphasize the great respect and affection we should have for retired people. Often it seems that they only serve to take the children to school, to go shopping, or to do some task in the house.

The gospel speaks to us of two aged people (Lk 2:25-38): and old man and an old woman who was eighty-four years old. Both of them, full of God, perform a good service and they are loved and venerated by the people.

The experience of an old person is not paid with money.

Let us pray to the Lord for the families who have problems, for the separated and divorced families, that the Lord may help them and that they may find the good way shown by the family of Nazareth.

WORDS OF JOHN PAUL II TO SPOUSES (May 3^rd, 1998)

"You, Christian spouses, be ready to give testimony of your marriage vocation: the harmony in the home, the spirit of faith and prayer, the exercise of the Christian virtues, the openness to others, mainly to the poorest, the participation in the life of the Church, the calm strength to confront the daily difficulties, constitutes the favourable ground for the vocational maturation of your children.”

“Considered as a ‘domestic church’, the family maintained by the sacramental grace, is the permanent school of the civilization of love, where it is possible to learn that the fullness of life only comes from the free and sincere gift of oneself".