The family’s role, as Pilgrims of Hope, in this Jubilee Year
December 30, 2024 at 3:11 p.m.
Following is the full text of the homily given by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at Masses to mark the opening of the Holy Year in the Diocese of Trenton. In observance of the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Bishop celebrated the Masses on Dec. 28 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton and Dec. 29 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold.
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety?” These questions from today’s Gospel from St. Luke could be and have been raised any number of times, in any number of homes, to children who have done something disappointing to parents.
In some ways, the same context. In other ways different --- a glimpse into the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth, whose feast we celebrate today with the Church throughout the world.
When Jesus responds, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?” St. Luke indicates that Mary and Joseph did not understand what Jesus was saying to them. A child of 12. The Jewish Feast of Passover. A trip to Jerusalem. Jesus’ words were somewhat startling and confusing.
This was no ordinary family, no ordinary parents. This was no ordinary child. His was not an ordinary life. Yet, St. Luke tells us he went home with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them; he lived in an ordinary way. And while Mary treasured all these things in her heart, Jesus grew up and matured. Not without significance to us, that King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that the word made flesh grew up and matured in context of family life. “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
For just as Jesus redeemed humanity by becoming man --- by entering into our world and our very flesh which we have just celebrated on Christmas Day, so, too, Jesus developed his humanity by becoming part of a family, the core of what we are all about as humans. And the Church offers us “family” --- his family, the Holy family --- as a model for our reflection as we continue celebrating the Christmas feast.
In writing about the family, our Holy Father Pope St. John Paul II once wrote:
The family, which is founded and given life by love, is a community of persons: of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives. Its first task is to live with fidelity the reality of communion in a constant effort to develop an authentic community of persons.
The inner principle of that task, its permanent power and its final goal is love. Without love the family is not a community of persons and, in the same way, without love the family cannot live, grow and perfect itself as a community of persons (Pope St. John Paul II, apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, November 22, 1981).
How often do we look around our world, our society, our neighborhood, sad to say even our own families, and see a lack of love: some obstacle to that community of persons. The purpose of today’s feast is to demonstrate to us the importance of (1) family life; (2) love within that family life: love that recognizes the distinctness of roles; the responsibilities unique to each role; yet the unity that comes when those roles and responsibilities are lived in love.
That’s what makes the family work. Love is not easy. Love requires sacrifice. Yet love is its own reward for it begets love and gives rise to hope, the theme of the Church’s Jubilee Year which we begin this weekend in the Diocese of Trenton.
In his message for the Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of family as a cornerstone of faith and community. He highlighted that families are essential in nurturing hope, love and forgiveness, and he encouraged families to rediscover the joy of encountering the Lord together. The Pope also stressed the need for spiritual renewal and transformation within families, urging them to be “beacons of hope” in a world facing many challenges (December 18, 2024).
The Holy Family needed time together. So, too, we as families need time together. On this feast, in this Jubilee Year, let us make a commitment to spending time together, more time together, as family -- sharing our common life in all its ordinariness -- so that we, too, through the example and intercession of Mary and Joseph, may advance the message and example of the Gospel, becoming pilgrims of and witnesses to hope, one holy family in their son Jesus Christ Our Lord.
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Following is the full text of the homily given by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at Masses to mark the opening of the Holy Year in the Diocese of Trenton. In observance of the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Bishop celebrated the Masses on Dec. 28 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton and Dec. 29 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold.
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety?” These questions from today’s Gospel from St. Luke could be and have been raised any number of times, in any number of homes, to children who have done something disappointing to parents.
In some ways, the same context. In other ways different --- a glimpse into the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth, whose feast we celebrate today with the Church throughout the world.
When Jesus responds, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?” St. Luke indicates that Mary and Joseph did not understand what Jesus was saying to them. A child of 12. The Jewish Feast of Passover. A trip to Jerusalem. Jesus’ words were somewhat startling and confusing.
This was no ordinary family, no ordinary parents. This was no ordinary child. His was not an ordinary life. Yet, St. Luke tells us he went home with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them; he lived in an ordinary way. And while Mary treasured all these things in her heart, Jesus grew up and matured. Not without significance to us, that King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that the word made flesh grew up and matured in context of family life. “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
For just as Jesus redeemed humanity by becoming man --- by entering into our world and our very flesh which we have just celebrated on Christmas Day, so, too, Jesus developed his humanity by becoming part of a family, the core of what we are all about as humans. And the Church offers us “family” --- his family, the Holy family --- as a model for our reflection as we continue celebrating the Christmas feast.
In writing about the family, our Holy Father Pope St. John Paul II once wrote:
The family, which is founded and given life by love, is a community of persons: of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives. Its first task is to live with fidelity the reality of communion in a constant effort to develop an authentic community of persons.
The inner principle of that task, its permanent power and its final goal is love. Without love the family is not a community of persons and, in the same way, without love the family cannot live, grow and perfect itself as a community of persons (Pope St. John Paul II, apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, November 22, 1981).
How often do we look around our world, our society, our neighborhood, sad to say even our own families, and see a lack of love: some obstacle to that community of persons. The purpose of today’s feast is to demonstrate to us the importance of (1) family life; (2) love within that family life: love that recognizes the distinctness of roles; the responsibilities unique to each role; yet the unity that comes when those roles and responsibilities are lived in love.
That’s what makes the family work. Love is not easy. Love requires sacrifice. Yet love is its own reward for it begets love and gives rise to hope, the theme of the Church’s Jubilee Year which we begin this weekend in the Diocese of Trenton.
In his message for the Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of family as a cornerstone of faith and community. He highlighted that families are essential in nurturing hope, love and forgiveness, and he encouraged families to rediscover the joy of encountering the Lord together. The Pope also stressed the need for spiritual renewal and transformation within families, urging them to be “beacons of hope” in a world facing many challenges (December 18, 2024).
The Holy Family needed time together. So, too, we as families need time together. On this feast, in this Jubilee Year, let us make a commitment to spending time together, more time together, as family -- sharing our common life in all its ordinariness -- so that we, too, through the example and intercession of Mary and Joseph, may advance the message and example of the Gospel, becoming pilgrims of and witnesses to hope, one holy family in their son Jesus Christ Our Lord.