[Today's Feast of Jesus' Presentation at the temple 40 days after his birth] places before our eyes a special moment in the life of the Holy Family:  Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Mosaic law, took the tiny Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem to offer him to the Lord (cf. Lk 2: 22). Simeon and Anna, inspired by God, recognized that Child as the long-awaited Messiah and prophesied about him. We are in the presence of a mystery, both simple and solemn, in which Holy Church celebrates Christ, the Anointed One of the Father, the firstborn of the new humanity.

The evocative candlelight procession at the beginning of our celebration has made us relive the majestic entrance, as we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, of the One who is "the King of glory", "the Lord, mighty in battle" (Ps 24[23]: 7, 8). But who is the powerful God who enters the temple? It is a Child; it is the Infant Jesus in the arms of his Mother, the Virgin Mary. The Holy Family was complying with what the Law prescribed:  the purification of the mother, the offering of the firstborn child to God and his redemption through a sacrifice.

In the First Reading the Liturgy speaks of the oracle of the Prophet Malachi:  "The Lord... will suddenly come to his temple" (Mal 3: 1). These words communicated the full intensity of the desire that had given life to the expectation of the Jewish People down the centuries. "The angel of the Covenant" at last entered his house and submitted to the Law:  he came to Jerusalem to enter God's house in an attitude of obedience.

The meaning of this act acquires a broader perspective in the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, proclaimed as the Second Reading today. Christ, the mediator who unites God and man, abolishing distances, eliminating every division and tearing down every wall of separation, is presented to us here.

Christ comes as a new "merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people" (Heb 2: 17). Thus, we note that mediation with God no longer takes place in the holiness-separation of the ancient priesthood, but in liberating solidarity with human beings.

While yet a Child, he sets out on the path of obedience that he was to follow to the very end.
The Letter to the Hebrews highlights this clearly when it says:  "In the days of his earthly life Jesus offered up prayers and supplications... to him who was able to save him from death.... Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him" (cf. Heb 5: 7-9).

The first person to be associated with Christ on the path of obedience, proven faith and shared suffering was his Mother, Mary. The Gospel text portrays her in the act of offering her Son:  an unconditional offering that involves her in the first person.

Mary is the Mother of the One who is "the glory of [his] people Israel" and a "light for revelation to the Gentiles", but also "a sign that is spoken against" (cf. Lk 2: 32, 34). And in her immaculate soul, she herself was to be pierced by the sword of sorrow, thus showing that her role in the history of salvation did not end in the mystery of the Incarnation but was completed in loving and sorrowful participation in the death and Resurrection of her Son.

Bringing her Son to Jerusalem, the Virgin Mother offered him to God as a true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. She held him out to Simeon and Anna as the proclamation of redemption; she presented him to all as a light for a safe journey on the path of truth and love.

The words that came to the lips of the elderly Simeon:  "My eyes have seen your salvation" (Lk 2: 30), are echoed in the heart of the prophetess Anna. These good and devout people, enveloped in Christ's light, were able to see in the Child Jesus "the consolation of Israel" (Lk 2: 25). So it was that their expectation was transformed into a light that illuminates history.

Simeon was the bearer of an ancient hope and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his heart:  for this reason he could contemplate the One whom numerous prophets and kings had desired to see:  Christ, light of revelation for the Gentiles.

He recognized that Child as the Saviour, but he foresaw in the Spirit that the destinies of humanity would be played out around him and that he would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected him; he proclaimed the identity and mission of the Messiah with words that form one of the hymns of the newborn Church, radiant with the full communitarian and eschatological exultation of the fulfilment of the expectation of salvation. The enthusiasm was so great that to live and to die were one and the same, and the "light" and "glory" became a universal revelation.

Anna is a "prophetess", a wise and pious woman who interpreted the deep meaning of historical events and of God's message concealed within them. Consequently, she could "give thanks to God" and "[speak of the Child] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk 2: 38).
Her long widowhood devoted to worship in the temple, fidelity to weekly fasting and participation in the expectation of those who yearned for the redemption of Israel culminated in her meeting with the Child Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, on this Feast of the Presentation of the Lord the Church is celebrating the Day of Consecrated Life. This is an appropriate occasion to praise the Lord and thank him for the precious gift represented by the consecrated life in its different forms; at the same time it is an incentive to encourage in all the People of God knowledge and esteem for those who are totally consecrated to God.

Indeed, just as Jesus' life in his obedience and dedication to the Father is a living parable of the "God-with-us", so the concrete dedication of consecrated persons to God and to their brethren becomes an eloquent sign for today's world of the presence of God's Kingdom.

Your way of living and working can vividly express full belonging to the one Lord; placing yourselves without reserve in the hands of Christ and of the Church is a strong and clear proclamation of God's presence in a language understandable to our contemporaries. This is the first service that the consecrated life offers to the Church and to the world. Consecrated persons are like watchmen among the People of God who perceive and proclaim the new life already present in our history.

I now address you in a special way, dear brothers and sisters who have embraced the vocation of special consecration, to greet you with affection and thank you warmly for your presence.
I extend a special greeting to Archbishop Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and to his collaborators who are concelebrating with me at this Holy Mass.

May the Lord renew in you and in all consecrated people each day the joyful response to his freely given and faithful love. Dear brothers and sisters, like lighted candles, always and everywhere shine with the love of Christ, Light of the world. May Mary Most Holy, the consecrated Woman, help you to live to the full your special vocation and mission in the Church for the world's salvation.

Amen!

[Pope Benedict, homily 2 February 2006]

1. Lumen ad revelationem gentium: a light for revelation to the Gentiles (cf. Lk 2:32).

Forty days after his birth, Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the temple to be presented to the Lord (cf. Lk 2:22), according to what the law of Moses prescribes: “Every first-born male shall be consecrated to the Lord” (Lk 2:23); and to offer in sacrifice “a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, in accord with the dictate in the law of the Lord” (Lk 2:24).

In recalling these events, the liturgy intentionally and precisely follows the sequence of Gospel events: the completion of the 40 days following Christ’s birth. It does the same, later, with regard to the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension into heaven.

Three basic elements can be seen in the Gospel event celebrated today: the mystery of the coming, the reality of the meeting and the proclamation of the prophecy.

2. First of all, the mystery of the coming. The biblical readings we have heard stress the extraordinary nature of God’s coming: the prophet Malachi announces it in a transport of joy, the responsorial psalm sings it and Luke's Gospel text describes it. We need only listen, for example, to the responsorial psalm: “Lift up, O gates, your lintels ... that the king of glory may come in! Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.... The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory” (Ps 23 [24]:7-8;10).

He who had been awaited for centuries enters the temple of Jerusalem, he who fulfils the promise of the Old Covenant: the Messiah foretold. The psalmist calls him “the king of glory”. Only later will it become clear that his kingdom is not of this world (cf. Jn 18:36) and that those who belong to this world are not preparing a royal crown for him, but a crown of thorns.

However, the liturgy looks beyond. In that 40-day-old infant it sees the “light” destined to illumine the nations, and presents him as the “glory” of the people of Israel (cf. Lk 2:32). It is he who must conquer death, as the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims, explaining the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature” (Heb 2:14), having taken on human nature.

After describing the mystery of the Incarnation, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews presents the mystery of Redemption: “Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted” (ibid., 2:17-18). This is a deep and moving presentation of the mystery of Christ. The passage from the Letter to the Hebrews helps us to understand better why this coming to Jerusalem of Mary’s newborn Son should be a decisive event in the history of salvation. Since it had been built, the temple was awaiting in a most exceptional way the One who had been promised. Thus his coming has a priestly meaning: “Ecce sacerdos magnus”; behold, the true and eternal High Priest enters the temple.

3. The second characteristic element of today’s celebration is the reality of the meeting. Even if no one was waiting for Joseph and Mary when they arrived hidden among the people at the temple in Jerusalem with the baby Jesus, something most unusual occurs. Here they meet persons guided by the Holy Spirit: the elderly Simeon of whom St Luke writes: “This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ” (Lk 2:25-26), and the prophetess Anna, who had lived “with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” (Lk 2:36-37). The Evangelist continues: “And coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38).

Simeon and Anna: a man and a woman, representatives of the Old Covenant, who, in a certain sense, had lived their whole lives for the moment when the temple of Jerusalem would be visited by the expected Messiah. Simeon and Anna understand that the moment has come at last, and reassured by the meeting, they can face the last phase of their life with peaceful hearts: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk 2:29-30).

At this discreet encounter, the words and actions effectively express the reality of the event taking place. The coming of the Messiah has not passed unobserved. It was recognized through the penetrating gaze of faith, which the elderly Simeon expresses in his moving words.

4. The third element that appears in this feast is prophecy: today truly prophetic words resound. Every day the Liturgy of the Hours ends the day with Simeon's inspired canticle: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, ... a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of your people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

The elderly Simeon adds, turning to Mary: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).

Thus while we are still at the dawn of Jesus’ life, we are already oriented to Calvary. It is on the Cross that Jesus will be definitively confirmed as a sign of contradiction, and it is there that his Mother’s heart will be pierced by the sword of sorrow. We are told it all from the beginning, on the 40th day after Jesus’ birth, on the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, so important in the Church’s liturgy.

5. Dear brothers and sisters, today’s feast is enriched this year with a new significance. In fact, for the first time we are celebrating the Day for Consecrated Life.

Dear men and women religious and you, dear brothers and sisters, members of secular institutes and societies of apostolic life, you are all entrusted with the task of proclaiming, by word and example, the primacy of the Absolute over every human reality. This is an urgent task in our time, which often seems to have lost the genuine sense of God. As I recalled in the Message I addressed to you for this first Day for Consecrated Life: “Truly there is great urgency that the consecrated life show itself ever more ‘full of joy and of the Holy Spirit’, that it forge ahead dynamically in the paths of mission, that it be backed up by the strength of lived witness, because ‘modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and ‘if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses’ (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 41)” (L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 29 January 1997, p. 3).

Together with the elderly Simeon and the prophetess Anna, let us go to meet the Lord in his temple. Let us welcome the light of his Revelation, committing ourselves to spreading it among our brothers and sisters in view of the now imminent Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

May the Blessed Virgin,
Mother of hope and joy,
accompany us
and grant that all believers
may be witnesses to the salvation
which God has prepared in the presence of all peoples
in his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for the glory of his people Israel.

Amen!

[Pope John Paul II, homily 2 February 1997]

Simeon, writes St Luke, "was waiting for the consolation of Israel" (Lk 2:25). Going up to the temple, while Mary and Joseph carry Jesus, he welcomes the Messiah in his arms. Recognising in the Child the light that has come to enlighten the nations is a man now old, who has waited patiently for the fulfilment of the Lord's promises. He has waited patiently.

The patience of Simeon. Let us take a closer look at the patience of this old man. All his life he waited and exercised patience of heart. In prayer, he learnt that God does not come in extraordinary events, but does his work in the apparent monotony of our days, in the sometimes tiring rhythm of activities, in the small things that we carry out with tenacity and humility trying to do his will. Walking patiently, Simeon has not let the passage of time wear him down. He is a man now laden with years, yet the flame of his heart is still burning; in his long life he will have been wounded at times, disappointed, yet he has not lost hope; with patience, he guards the promise - guarding the promise -, without allowing himself to be consumed by bitterness for the time that has passed or by that resigned melancholy that emerges when one reaches the twilight of life. The hope of expectation in him was translated into the daily patience of one who, in spite of everything, remained vigilant, until, finally, "his eyes saw salvation" (cf. Lk 2:30).

And I ask myself: from where did Simeon learn this patience? He received it from the prayer and from the life of his people, who in the Lord always recognised the "merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in grace and faithfulness" (Ex 34:6); he recognised the Father who even in the face of rejection and unfaithfulness does not grow weary, indeed "is patient for many years" (cf. Nehemiah 9:30), as Nehemiah says, in order to grant each time the possibility of conversion.

Simeon's patience, therefore, mirrors God's patience. From prayer and the history of his people, Simeon learnt that God is patient. By his patience,' says St Paul, he 'urges us to conversion' (Rom 2:4). I like to recall Romano Guardini, who said: patience is a way in which God responds to our weakness, to give us time to change (cf. Glaubenserkenntnis, Würzburg 1949, 28). And above all, the Messiah, Jesus, whom Simeon holds in his arms, reveals to us the patience of God, the Father who shows us mercy and calls us to the last hour, who does not demand perfection but the impulse of the heart, who opens up new possibilities where all seems lost, who seeks to make a breach within us even when our hearts are closed, who lets the good wheat grow without tearing up the weeds. This is the reason for our hope: God waits for us without ever growing weary. God waits for us without ever growing weary. And this is the reason for our hope. When we turn away He comes looking for us, when we fall to the ground He lifts us up, when we return to Him after being lost He waits for us with open arms. His love is not measured in the scales of our human calculations, but always instils in us the courage to begin again. He teaches us resilience, the courage to begin again. Always, every day. After the falls, always, begin again. He is patient.

And we look at our patience. We look at God's patience and Simeon's patience for our consecrated life. And we ask ourselves: what is patience? Certainly, it is not mere tolerance of difficulties or fatalistic endurance of adversity. Patience is not a sign of weakness: it is fortitude of spirit that makes us capable of "bearing the burden", of enduring: bearing the weight of personal and community problems, it makes us welcome the diversity of others, it makes us persevere in the good even when all seems futile, it makes us stay the course even when tedium and sloth assail us.

I would like to indicate three 'places' where patience is realised.

The first is our personal life. One day we answered the Lord's call and, with enthusiasm and generosity, we offered ourselves to Him. Along the way, along with consolations, we have also received disappointments and frustrations. Sometimes, the enthusiasm of our work is not matched by the hoped-for results, our sowing does not seem to bear the appropriate fruit, the fervour of prayer weakens and we are not always immunised against spiritual dryness. It can happen, in our lives as consecrated persons, that hope is worn out by disappointed expectations. We must be patient with ourselves and confidently await God's times and ways: He is faithful to His promises. This is the foundation stone: He is faithful to His promises. Remembering this allows us to rethink our paths, to reinvigorate our dreams, without giving in to inner sadness and mistrust. Brothers and sisters, inner sadness in us consecrated is a worm, a worm that eats us from within. Flee from inner sadness!

Second place where patience is realised: community life. Human relationships, especially when it comes to sharing a life project and apostolic activity, are not always peaceful, we all know that. Sometimes conflicts arise and one cannot demand an immediate solution, nor should one hastily judge the person or the situation: one must know how to distance oneself, try not to lose peace, wait for the best time to clarify in charity and truth. Do not let yourself be confused by storms. In the breviary reading there is a beautiful passage - for tomorrow - a beautiful passage from Diadochus of Photix on spiritual discernment, and it says this: "When the sea is rough you cannot see the fish, but when the sea is calm you can see them". Never will we be able to do good discernment, to see the truth, if our hearts are agitated and impatient. Never. In our communities we need this mutual patience: to bear, that is, to carry on one's shoulders the life of one's brother or sister, even his or her weaknesses and faults. All. Let us remember this: the Lord does not call us to be soloists - there are many, in the Church, we know that - no, he does not call us to be soloists, but to be part of a choir, which sometimes goes out of tune, but always has to try to sing together.

Finally, the third 'place', patience with the world. Simeon and Anna cultivate in their hearts the hope announced by the prophets, even if it is slow to be realised and slowly grows within the infidelities and ruins of the world. They do not lament the things that go wrong, but patiently wait for the light in the darkness of history. Waiting for the light in the darkness of history. Waiting for the light in the darkness of one's own community. We need this patience, so that we do not remain prisoners of complaint. Some are masters of complaining, they are doctors in complaining, they are great at complaining! No, complaining imprisons: 'the world no longer listens to us' - so often we hear this -, 'we no longer have vocations, we must close up shop', 'we are living in difficult times' - 'ah, tell me about it! So begins the duet of complaints. Sometimes it happens that to the patience with which God works the soil of history, and also works the soil of our hearts, we oppose the impatience of those who judge everything immediately: now or never, now, now. And so we lose that virtue, the 'small' but most beautiful one: hope. So many consecrated men and women I have seen lose hope. Simply out of impatience.

Patience helps us to look at ourselves, our communities and the world with mercy. We can ask ourselves: do we welcome the patience of the Spirit into our lives? In our communities, do we carry each other on our shoulders and show the joy of fraternal life? And towards the world, do we carry out our service with patience or do we judge harshly? These are challenges for our consecrated life: we cannot remain stuck in nostalgia for the past or merely repeat the same old things, nor in daily complaints. We need the courageous patience to walk, to explore new paths, to seek out what the Holy Spirit suggests.  And this is done with humility, with simplicity, without great propaganda, without great publicity.

Let us contemplate God's patience and implore the trusting patience of Simeon and also of Anna, so that our eyes too may see the light of salvation and bring it to the whole world, as these two old men brought it in praise.

[Pope Francis, homily 2 February 2020]

Already rebellious: special Vocation

(Lk 2:41-52)

The Gospel passage is disconcerting because it seems to portray a distracted family and an authentic, surprising, already surly and rebellious Jesus.

Lk is writing more than half a century after the Lord's death and resurrection, and he wants to bring out the character of Faith and inclination of his communities still in search.

The bloody story of the Master had to be understood and internalised in a way that was not immediately apparent; not even to those closest to the Messiah.

It seems that the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover (v.41).

Our Adolescent shows signs of particular vocation, even before becoming an adult and required to observe the Torah [in Israel, 13 years old].

From the tone of the narrative we note a Jesus eager to feed and immerse himself in the still unexpressed Mystery of the Father.

Dreaming of discovering his Will, he stayed in the holy city to fully understand the Word of God - without being satisfied of impersonal, abbreviated catechisms.

First expressions of Jesus in the third Gospel mark the character of his whole story.

He firmly detached himself from the religiosity of the ‘fathers’ (v.49).

The Lord begins to distance himself from ideas common even to his family of origin: he does not belong to a definite clan.

His will be a divine proposal in favor of all the women and men of the world.

So Jesus has even more honoured the fidelity to God of his parents (vv.51-52) by accepting the whole spirit of their teachings, and digging further - sensing their ultimate meaning.

As if to say: in Him the sacred Scriptures become accessible, with the reading’s key of his whole story and Person.

Life for us - even before Baptism and public events.

Lk writes to encourage believers who did not yet fully understand about personality [and dramatic outcome] of the new Rabbi.

Like Joseph and Mary, they had to realise that it is not easy to understand the Son of God and accept his uniqueness of character, even to the point of earthly defeat.

In the figure of the Holy Family, we too are invited to «return to Jerusalem» (v.45).

Well, observing the autonomy of Christ, we will gradually be able to open ourselves to the unprecedent vocation that we carry within us - because we are ‘born again’ in Him.

And in the face of disconcerting events, we will learn to guard the personal Call - like Mary. 

Because She too did not find it easy to enter in her Easter: the ‘passage’ from the religion of traditions and common expectations to the Faith in the Son.

But She «preserved through» Word and events (v.51b), without stopping halfway.

The movement of Salvation familiarizes everyone in the dynamics of bewilderment [from narrowness] and finding [of a Presence within the different presences] in order not to narrow the horizons.

[Holy Family of Nazareth (year C)]

Shades and ferment of Love

(Holy Family of Nazareth)

How is it that Jesus had such sublime words on Love? And where did he learn the language of love?

God wanted to have Family as an icon of himself, so that in the exercise of domestic virtues, soul would become an oasis of peace, and would turn into gift.

Among the many possible ways he had of coming, he has chosen the forge of the hearth, because it remains the true school of loving kindness, the place in which the Creator’s design is fully manifested.

The family is the primer and syllabary of love because it is the image of the Trinity. In fact, the relationship of love between spouses, sustained by faith and prayer becomes poetry that supports, and does flourish.

The family together in mutual submission receives the eye of God and thus overcomes each trial.

From the intensity of relationship – which is a sign of the supernatural - then tenderness comes, the smile of the soul and an anticipation of paradise here on earth.

Spousal love: image of the Trinity that doesn't close itself, nor become narrow-minded. So: the nuclear family becomes a springboard for mission, a gateway to a reality without fences and barricades, the universal Family.

Jesus did experience of motherly love, of a mother's heart beating for her son, for it's in the mother's heart that the sons can find rest.

This is the characteristic of the feminine genius, in the experience of gestation before, and then in the life. The mother makes room inside for growth within the womb, and then feeding, educating and supporting, by welcoming, maturing and respecting the identity of the other...

Christ experienced paternal love, more manly and demanding maybe, but able to care and protect. He experienced a model of hard work, attention, (ready suitcases always) and presence.

Like us, Jesus lived the right to receive love, but he also satisfied the love of his parents. Because even filial love strengthens the family and helps not to disflake it.

In short, it's in the family that Jesus lived the experience of all the nuances of love, in the arms of Mary, and on Joseph's side. This is the model that the liturgy proposes today so that we too draw from the perennial sources and do not become dangerous crock pots, emptied and wandering.

Here's the secret...

In the Holy Family of Nazareth there was no opposition or resistance to the Word of God. Their life was not easy, but in contrast to what is happening around and maybe even in our homes, in moments of crisis, difficulties and even misfortunes were not a reason for mutual estrangement and collapse.

On the contrary, obstacles became a stimulus to dialogue, for union, for service towards the weaker one and (at the moment) most in need of help.

The couple have always moved together, in agreement and with heart and mind turned to God in making their choices. They did so, not to cultivate a selfishness circle, but to live a warmth that overflows.

For the Christian, the Family is the core of society and cannot be devalued, but it should not be considered or lived as an idol. Even Jesus at one point distanced himself from certain environmental constraints and opened himself to horizons of wider scope.

He was born into a Family, to become a citizen of every land, because every child is a gift from God to all humanity. Restricting the prospects and pleasing oneself to a small world of affections and interests that ignore universal fraternity means demeaning what remains a simple stage in a growth, to leap towards other destinations.

The Family is yes a small domestic Church wanted by God as a syllabary of the many nuances of love [sponsal, maternal, paternal, filial] but like ‘ferment’.

As a solid platform it must then allow us to boldly take flight, with a leap towards life.

(Homily to the young people of Taizé, Rome, December 30, 2012)

[St  Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (December 29, 2024)]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

On this last Sunday of the year we are celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. I address with joy all the families of the world, wishing them the peace and love that Jesus brought us in coming among us at Christmas. 

In the Gospel we do not find discourses on the family but an event which is worth more than any words:  God wanted to be born and to grow up in a human family. In this way he consecrated the family as the first and ordinary means of his encounter with humanity. 

In his life spent at Nazareth, Jesus honoured the Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph, remaining under their authority throughout the period of his childhood and his adolescence (cf. Lk 2: 41-52). In this way he shed light on the primary value of the family in the education of the person. 

Jesus was introduced by Mary and Joseph into the religious community and frequented the synagogue of Nazareth. With them, he learned to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as the Gospel passage offered for our meditation by today's liturgy tells us. 

When he was 12 years old, he stayed behind in the Temple and it took his parents all of three days to find him. With this act he made them understand that he "had to see to his Father's affairs", in other words, to the mission that God had entrusted to him (cf. Lk 2: 41-52). 

This Gospel episode reveals the most authentic and profound vocation of the family: that is, to accompany each of its members on the path of the discovery of God and of the plan that he has prepared for him or her. 

Mary and Joseph taught Jesus primarily by their example: in his parents he came to know the full beauty of faith, of love for God and for his Law, as well as the demands of justice, which is totally fulfilled in love (cf. Rom 13: 10). 

From them he learned that it is necessary first of all to do God's will, and that the spiritual bond is worth more than the bond of kinship. 

The Holy Family of Nazareth is truly the "prototype" of every Christian family which, united in the Sacrament of Marriage and nourished by the Word and the Eucharist, is called to carry out the wonderful vocation and mission of being the living cell not only of society but also of the Church, a sign and instrument of unity for the entire human race. 

Let us now invoke for every family, especially families in difficulty, the protection of Mary Most Holy and of St Joseph. May they sustain such families so that they can resist the disintegrating forces of a certain contemporary culture which undermines the very foundations of the family institution. 

May they help Christian families to be, in every part of the world, living images of God's love.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 31 December 2006]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

1. On this first Sunday after Christmas, the Church is celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family. 

As at the crib, in a glance of faith we embrace together the divine Child and the persons beside him: his most holy Mother and Joseph, his putative father. What light shines from this Christmas “group icon”! A light of mercy and salvation for the whole world, a light of truth for every person, for the human family and for individual families. How lovely it is for spouses to be reflected in the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph! How comforting for parents, especially if they have a small baby! How enlightening for engaged couples, struggling with their plans for life! 

To gather round the Bethlehem grotto contemplating there the Holy Family, enables us to appreciate the gift of family intimacy in a special way, and spurs us to offer human warmth and concrete solidarity in those unfortunately numerous situations which, for various reasons, lack peace, harmony, in a word, lack “family”. 

2. The message that comes from the Holy Family is first of all a message of faith: the family of Nazareth is a home which truly centres on God. For Mary and Joseph, this choice of faith becomes concrete in their service to the Son of God entrusted to their care, but it is also expressed in their mutual love, rich in spiritual tenderness and fidelity. 

With their life, they teach that marriage is a covenant between man and woman, a covenant that involves reciprocal fidelity and rests upon their common trust in God. Such a noble, profound and definitive covenant, as to constitute for believers the sacrament of love of Christ and of the Church. The spouses’ fidelity stands like a solid rock on which the children’s trust rests. 

When parents and children together breathe this atmosphere of faith they have a ready energy that enables them to face even difficult trials, as the Holy Family’s experience shows. 

3. It is necessary to nourish this atmosphere of faith. In this perspective preparations are being made for the Second World Meeting with Families which is to take place in Rio de Janeiro on 4-5 October 1997. It will be a great celebration of the families of Latin America and of the entire world, which will renew the message launched at the first meeting that took place in Rome on the occasion of the International Year of the Family. 

I commend to Mary “Queen of the family” all the world’s families, especially those that are encountering serious difficulties, and I invoke her motherly protection upon them.

[Pope John Paul II, Angelus 29 December 1996].

Domestic Church

3. Another theme is that of the family as the place where vocation matures. We can grasp this aspect in the answer given by Jesus to Mary and Joseph, who were anxiously looking for him while he was conversing with the doctors in the temple in Jerusalem: "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Lk 2:49). In the Letter I addressed to young people all over the world in 1985, on the occasion of Youth Day, I tried to highlight how precious is this life project that precisely during the youthful age each young person must strive to elaborate. Just as the twelve-year-old Jesus was totally dedicated to the things of the Father, so each one is called to ask himself the question: what are these "things of the Father", in which I must commit myself for the rest of my life?

4. Other aspects inherent in the vocation of the family are illustrated to us by the apostolic parenesis, as for example found in the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. For the Apostles, as well as later for the Church Fathers, the family is the 'domestic church'. Pope Paul VI remains faithful to this great tradition in his wonderful homily on Nazareth and the example that comes to us from the Holy Family: "Nazareth reminds us what the family is, what the communion of love is, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character..." (Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, II, 1964, p. 25).

5. Thus, from the beginning, the Church has been writing her Letter to Families, and I myself intend to move in this vein, preparing a Letter for the Year of the Family: it will be made public before long. The Holy Family of Nazareth is an ongoing challenge for us, forcing us to deepen our understanding of the mystery of the 'domestic church' and of every human family. It is an incentive for us to pray for families and with families, and to share all that constitutes joy and hope for them, but also concern and anxiety.

6. Family experience, in fact, is called to become, in Christian life, the content of a daily offertory, like a holy offering, a sacrifice pleasing to God (cf. 1 Pet 2:5; Rom 12:1). The Gospel of Jesus' presentation in the temple also suggests this to us. Jesus, who is "the light of the world" (Jn 8:12), but also "the sign of contradiction" (Lk 2:34), wishes to welcome this offertory of each family as he welcomes the bread and wine in the Eucharist. These human joys and hopes, but also the inevitable sufferings and worries, proper to every family life, he wants to unite with the bread and wine destined for transubstantiation, thus assuming them in a certain way in the mystery of his Body and Blood. This Body and Blood he then gives in communion as a source of spiritual energy, not only for each individual person but also for each family.

7. May the Holy Family of Nazareth introduce us to an ever deeper understanding of the vocation of every family, which finds in Christ the source of its dignity and holiness. At Christmas, God met man and united him indissolubly to himself: this "admirable consortium" also includes the "family consortium". Contemplating this reality, the Church bends her knees as if before a "great mystery" (cf. Eph 5:32): she sees in the experience of communion to which the family is called a reflection in time of the Trinitarian communion, and she knows well that Christian marriage is not only a natural reality, but also the sacrament of the spousal unity of Christ with his Church. It is this sublime dignity of the family and marriage that the Second Vatican Council invited us to promote. Blessed are the families, who will be able to grasp and realise this original and wonderful plan of God, walking in the ways indicated by Christ.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 29 December 1993]

Today’s Gospel passage invites families to welcome the light of hope that comes from the home of Nazareth, in which Jesus’ childhood unfolded in joy. Jesus, says St Luke, “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man” (2:52). The nuclear family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is for each believer and especially for families an authentic school of the Gospel. Here we admire the fulfilment of the divine plan to make of the family a special community of life and love. Here we learn that every Christian nuclear family is called to be a “domestic church”, to make the Gospel virtues shine and become a leaven of good in society. The classic traits of the Holy Family are: reflection and prayer, mutual understanding and respect, and a spirit of sacrifice, work and solidarity. 

From the exemplary witness of the Holy Family, each family can find precious guidance for the style and choices of life, and can draw strength and wisdom for each day’s journey. Our Lady and Joseph teach us to welcome children as a gift of God, to beget them and raise them, cooperating wonderfully in the work of the Creator and giving to the world, in each child, a new smile. It is in a united family that children bring their existence to maturity, living out the meaningful and effective experience of freely given love, tenderness, reciprocal respect, mutual understanding, forgiveness and joy.

I would like to pause above all on joy. The true joy which is experienced in the family is not something random and fortuitous. It is a joy produced by deep harmony among people, which allows them to savour the beauty of being together, of supporting each other on life’s journey. However, at the foundation of joy there is always the presence of God, his welcoming, merciful and patient love for all. If the door of the family is not open to the presence of God and to his love, then the family loses its harmony, individualism prevails, and joy is extinguished. Instead, the family which experiences joy — the joy of life, the joy of faith — communicates it spontaneously, is the salt of the earth, and light of the world, the leaven for all of society.

May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless and protect all the families in the world, so that in them may reign the serenity and joy, the justice and peace which Christ by his Birth brought as a gift to humanity.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 27 December 2015]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us!

On 24 December 2024 at 7 p.m. the Jubilee 2025 will officially begin, with the rite of the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Papal Basilica by the Holy Father.  Following this, Francis will preside the celebration of Holy Mass on the night of the Lord's Christmas inside the Basilica.  And here is the commentary on the biblical texts of the Christmas Mass: the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass with our best and heartfelt wishes for a holy Christmas of Christ.

Christmas of Christ 2024 Midnight Mass 

First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 9,1-6

*An announcement of salvation

It is a splendid messianic hymn dedicated to the Emanuel, the long hoped-for Messiah-King, which is illuminated with two images: the harvest and the military victory. As often happens, in order to understand the message of the biblical text that the liturgy proposes to us, it is necessary to consider it in context, and here it is good to read the verse that precedes this passage from Isaiah: "At first, the Lord covered the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with shame; but afterwards, he covered the way of the sea, the land beyond Jordan and Galilee of the Gentiles with glory" (Is 8:23). We can thus date the prophet's words and understand whether they date from the very time of the events narrated, or, on the contrary, whether they were written later, and thus know with certainty to which political context he is referring (even in the case that the text dates much later). Secondly, like every prophetic word, this too is a message that God addresses to revive the hope of the people. Let us see the historical context: after David and Solomon had ruled over the whole of Israel, upon Solomon's death in 933 B.C., the so-called schism of Israel gave rise to two often conflicting kingdoms: to the north, the kingdom of Israel with capital Samaria, and to the south, the kingdom of Judah, with capital Jerusalem, a direct descendant of David and considered the rightful bearer of the divine promises. Isaiah preached in the southern kingdom, but Zebulun, Naphtali, the sea route, the land beyond the Jordan and Galilee are all places in the northern kingdom, all regions conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglat-Pileser III in 732 BC. In 721 BC, the capital Samaria was also annexed and Assyrian and then Babylonian rule began. It is in this context that Isaiah foresees a radical change, announcing that the humbled lands will see glory: 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwelt in the land of darkness, a light shone. The people who dwelt in the land of darkness brings to mind the many deported to Babylon often blinded by the rulers. The southern kingdom, with its capital Jerusalem, was not indifferent to events in the north, both because it feared occupation and above all because there was a great desire for reunification to bring Israel back to unity under the Davidic throne. This is why the arrival of a new king was regarded as the dawn of a new day: 'A child has been born to us, a son has been given to us ... he will be called the Prince of Peace'. These expressions are part of the ritual of consecration of the new king and Isaiah states with certainty that God will not abandon his people to slavery, because his faithfulness is unwavering and he cannot deny himself.  He adds: 'For you have broken the yoke that oppressed him, the bar on his shoulders, and the rod of his tormentor as in the day of Midian'. Midian and the Midianites: the prophet assures that God will intervene to liberate his people, and cites as an example Gideon's victory over the Midianites when in the middle of the night with 300 men armed only with trumpets, torches and earthen pitchers, and above all faith in God, he defeated an immensely larger army (Judges 7). Thus the prophet's message is clear: Do not be afraid little flock, for it is in the darkness that you must believe the light. Despite the difficulties that continue to mark these times, Isaiah invited to keep hope alive, based on the certainty that the Lord, as in the past, never fails in his plan of love for all mankind. And just then, when Isaiah was formulating this promise, the young king Achaz of Jerusalem had sacrificed his son, the heir to the throne, to an idol out of fear of war. The Davidic descendants seemed doomed to extinction and it is at such a moment that Isaiah reawakens confidence by saying that a new heir will be given since nothing can deter the faithfulness of God who fulfils all his promises. This certainty rests on the memory of what God has done for his people. In this regard, it is sufficient to recall that Moses often renewed to Israel the invitation to "not forget" the wonders of the Lord because when our trust fails, it is we who lose.  And Isaiah also told King Ahaz: "If you do not believe, you cannot endure" (Is 7:9). Every time has its share of trials and sufferings, of darkness and misfortune, but to be convinced that God does not fail in his word is always a prophecy of victory, and no matter how great the difficulties in our families and communities, the challenge is to keep hope alive: God does not give up or abandon his plan of love for all. 

Responsorial Psalm 95/96)

*Proclaiming the good news from the rooftops 

It is a pity that today's liturgy provides only seven verses of this wonderful psalm 95/96, which should be read in its entirety because it invites enthusiasm and joy, and because in a time of great difficulty it is sung in the Temple of Jerusalem. It is a psalm that communicates the vigour of faith, indeed of hope; in other words, the joy that is born of faith and the hope that makes one believe certain even that which one does not possess. We are thus already projected to the end of the world, when all humanity will recognise God as the one true God and place its trust in Him alone. It is necessary to imagine with imagination the scene that the psalm describes: in Jerusalem, or rather in the Temple, the nations, the races of the world throng, the esplanade is packed with cheering heads that even invade the steps of the Temple courtyard. By now Jerusalem is no longer enough and everywhere you look you see people from all over the planet continuing to arrive. It is a symphony of voices singing: "The Lord reigns!", an incredible ovation similar to the joy at the coronation of a new king. Now, however, it is not the people of Israel that acclaims its king, but the whole of humanity that rejoices for its true king: the earth quivers with joy, the seas join in the symphony and the trees dance with the countryside all in celebration. It will then become clear that men have allowed themselves to be deceived for a long time, have abandoned the true God to resort to idols, and that the prophets' struggle has always been against idolatry. It will then seem incredible that it has taken men so long to recognise their Creator, their Father, despite the fact that a hundred times the cry has resounded: the Lord is "terrible above all gods", it is He, the Lord, and no one else has made the heavens. At last the time of celebration will come: in Jerusalem people will flock to acclaim God having heard the good news proclaimed for centuries: "day after day Israel has proclaimed its salvation". day after day it has told of God's work, of his wonders, that is, of his unceasing work of deliverance; day after day it has testified that God has delivered it from Egypt and from all forms of slavery: the most terrible of slavers is putting one's trust in false values, in false gods, in idols that can only disappoint. To Israel falls 

 the fate and the extraordinary honour of proclaiming that the Lord our God, the Eternal, is the only God, as the Shema Israel recites: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is the only Lord'. The psalm refers to Israel's vocation, already evoked in the book of Deuteronomy: "You have witnessed these things, so that you may recognise that the Lord is God: there is none other than he" (Deut 4:35), and the time comes when this astonishing news is heard to the ends of the earth... and all flock to enter the House of the Father of all. We are here in full anticipation! While waiting for this dream to be realised, the people of Israel resound this psalm to renew their faith and their hope, and to draw the necessary strength to make the good news of which they are the depositary heard.

Second Reading from the Letter of St Paul the Apostle to Titus (2:11-14). This reading is also present in the Dawn Mass (3, 4-7 ).

 *Baptism immerses us in the Grace of God 

The letter to Titus contains the advice that Paul, the founder of the community, dispenses to Titus, who assumes responsibility for it. For reasons of style and even chronology, many experts on the Pauline letters believe that the letter to Titus, like the two to Timothy, were only written at the end of the first century, some thirty years after the apostle's death, following his thought and to support his work. In the absence of certainty, we continue to speak of St Paul as the author of the letter to whom it is addressed: they are the inhabitants of Crete, the Cretans, who had a very bad reputation in Paul's time, as Epimenides of Knossos, a local poet already in the 6th century BC, described them: 'Cretans, perennial liars, wicked beasts, idle bellies'. And Paul, quoting him, confirms: "This testimony is true!". However, it was precisely to the flawed Cretans that Paul proclaimed the gospel and this was not easy. He then left it to Titus, who remained on the spot, to organise the young Christian community.  Regardless of when the letter was written, it is clear that the difficulties of the Cretans persisted. The letter to Titus is very short, only three pages of which we read in the Night Mass the end of chapter 2, while the beginning of chapter 3 is proposed for the Dawn Mass and the whole passage for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, year C. All that precedes and follows this passage consists of practical recommendations directed to the members of the community: old and young, men and women, masters and slaves including those in charge, to whom he recommends that they be blameless: "The bishop must be blameless as a steward of God: not arrogant, not violent, not stingy with illicit gains. He must be hospitable, a lover of good, thoughtful, just, holy, self-possessed, firm in the Word'. In short, it is not difficult to understand that there is a lot of work to be done and as a good pedagogue, St Paul does not venture to give superfluous advice. One must keep in mind the link between the moral advice he dispenses and the passage that interests us today, which is a theological exposition on the mystery of faith. The message is clear: for Paul, it is Baptism that makes us new men, and all the advice he dispenses is justified on the sole grounds that 'the goodness of God our Saviour and his love for mankind appeared'.  Indeed, the biblical text actually begins with 'when' and some editions place 'why'. So: 'when the goodness of God, our saviour, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not because of any righteous works we had done, but because of his mercy'. In other words, behave well, because God's grace has been manifested for the salvation of all men. This means that Christian morality is rooted in the central event of world history: the birth of Christ. When Paul writes: 'the grace of God has appeared to bring salvation to all men', he means that God became man. And from that moment, our way of being men is transformed "with water that regenerates and renews in the Holy Spirit" (3:5). Since that moment, everything has changed and consequently our behaviour must also change and we must allow ourselves to be transformed because the world awaits our testimony. It is not a matter of gaining merits (he saved us not because of righteous works performed by us, but because of his mercy), but of testifying with our lives that God wants the salvation of all mankind also through us: "the goodness of God, our Saviour, and his love for mankind appeared". God's plan, foreseen from eternity, envisages the uniting of all around Jesus Christ so as to become one with Him, overcoming divisions, rivalries, hatred, making us all one in Him. Certainly there is still a long way to go and for many it is a utopia, but as believers we know that every promise of God is a certainty. Paul says it clearly: "looking forward to the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ". and the use of the verb wait indicates the conviction that sooner or later it will happen.  In the celebration of the Eucharist, the priest repeats this after the Lord's Prayer: 'While waiting for the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ'. It is a true act of faith that becomes hope: we dare to affirm that Christ's love will have the last word in every situation. This certainty and this expectation are the beating heart of the entire liturgy: during the celebration, we Christians do not have our eyes turned to the past, but are already in Christ 'one man' who peers into the future, and when the end of time comes, those who look at us will be able to write: 'behold, they are all like one man, and this man is Jesus Christ', what we call the total Christ.  

Gospel according to Luke ( 2:1-14)

*In the poverty of the manger lies the secret of the Incarnation

The night of Bethlehem echoes with a marvellous proclamation: 'Peace be to men who are loved by the Lord', to be well understood because there are no people whom God does not love. After all, it is God's plan, expressed once again: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16) and there is nothing to fear. "Do not be afraid", the angels say to the shepherds, and after all, why should one be afraid when a child is born? Let us try to believe that God has probably chosen to make himself a newborn child to awaken love for him in our hearts, abandoning all fear and shame. Like Isaiah with Achaz, the angel also announces the birth of a king: 'Today, in the city of David, a Saviour has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord. Behold, the one who had been awaited for many centuries was born at last, and at that time the prophecy of Nathan to King David was on everyone's mind: 'The Lord announces to you that he will make you a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou restest with thy fathers, I will raise up a descendant of thee out of thy womb, and will make his kingdom established' (2 Sam 7:11-12).

This is why Luke specifies the origins of Joseph, the father of the child: 'Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem: for he belonged to the house and family of David'. Moreover, according to Micah's prophecy, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem: "And you, Bethlehem of Ephratah, so small to be among the villages of Judah, out of you shall come forth for me the one who is to be ruler in Israel... He shall rise and feed with the power of the LORD, with the majesty of the name of the LORD his God... and he himself shall be peace" (Mi 5:1, 4). 

So the angels announce good news, great joy to the shepherds, and one can understand why the heavenly hosts sing the glory of God. What is always surprising, however, is the contrast between the greatness of the destiny promised to the Messiah and the littleness of a child, born in the most humble and precarious circumstances. "the strength of God's arm", which liberates his people, of which Psalm 88/89 speaks, lies mysteriously in the small hands of a child born into one poor family among many others. How extraordinary is the poverty of a manger! Yet it is precisely there that the sign of God is manifested: we encounter Jesus in the simplest everyday life, even in poverty, and this is the mystery, indeed the secret of the Incarnation.

"The heir of all things", as we read in the letter to the Hebrews (1:2), is born among the poor; he whom St John calls "the light of the world" finds his cradle in the manger of an obscure stable; he who is the Word of God, who created the world, came into the world like every other creature and, like everyone else, will in time have to learn to speak. One can then understand and not be surprised that "his own did not welcome and recognise him" and we are not surprised that it was precisely the poor and the little ones who most readily accepted his message. He is the God of Mercy who goes out to meet all kinds of poverty and has compassion on our misery. This holy night invites us not to be afraid to turn our gaze on a poor manger, for it is here that we discover the truest way to resemble Jesus and thus receive as a gift the power to "become children of God" (Jn 1:12).

The great joy of Christmas that the angels bring to the shepherds, the outcasts of society, has resounded in every corner of the world for over two millennia now. Faced with such joy and such a great mystery of renewed life, many questions arise in the heart: why is it that in some parts of the world where this proclamation has resounded, division and war persist? Why is it that so many communities seem tired of waiting and fall back on other interests that often lead away from waiting for the Saviour? Why is the amazement at the birth of a child no longer for some the sign of a love that opens up to life? So many whys for a Christmas of Christ that risks being suffocated by the noisy cry of a society preoccupied with a thousand different issues and threatened by sadness if not sometimes even despair. The story of Christ's birth then found many heedless because they were busy with everyday matters. A few shepherds, excluded and impure in society, were the first and only ones to rush in. A sign and a message: the triumph of a God who out of love becomes a small child is a comfort and support for those who continue to await his return and know that, beyond all human expectations, this humble king of glory wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger is our saviour, Christ the Lord. It is therefore "good news, great joy" that the angels announce to the shepherds, but it can only be transformed into peace in the heart of those who go out and meet him in the humble stable in Bethlehem. 

25 December Mass of the Day 

Reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah 52:7-10

*The Lord consoles his people 

"Break forth together in songs of joy, ye ruins of Jerusalem". The reference to the ruins of Jerusalem allows the text of Isaiah to be precisely placed. Jerusalem was devastated by Nebuchadnezzar's troops in 587 BC who did everything: looting, destruction, violence, desecration. Valuable men and women were deported to Babylon while leaving peasants to feed the occupiers, and the exile lasted fifty years, enough time to become discouraged and lose hope of ever seeing their land again. In this bleak picture, the prophet announces the return, he who had begun to preach as follows: "Console, console my people, says your God" (Is 40:1) and here, imagining the messenger announcing the great news in Jerusalem and the sentinel who, from the hills of the city, sees the deportees arriving, he uses the same verb console: "the Lord has consoled his people", meaning that the Lord has already acted and that the return is now imminent. He speaks of a foot-messenger and a sentinel, two figures that have disappeared in the age of telecommunications and fibre optics, but in those days a runner was entrusted with the task of transmitting news. The most famous example is that of the marathon: in 490 B.C., after the victory of the Athenians over the Persians at Marathon, a runner ran the 42 km to Athens to announce the victory, exclaimed Victory! and then collapsed. As the athletes/messengers ran, sentries posted on the city walls scanned the horizon. Here Isaiah imagines a sentry lurking on the walls of Jerusalem who sees the messenger approaching from hill to hill and announces: 'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who proclaims peace, the messenger of good news, who proclaims salvation', and when the messenger arrives he cries out to Zion, the holy city: 'Your God reigns'. The people are finally saved and the city is rebuilt by those who return: that is why the ruins of Jerusalem are invited to exult with joy. In Israel, the defeats of the people were considered defeats of their God, but now the people are delivered and their God has shown his power, as the prophet says: 'The Lord has unfurled his holy arm. He has delivered his people as from Egypt, "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm" (Deut 4:34). And this is not the end of the prophet's vision because behind the messenger, the sentinel sees the triumphal procession and "the return of the Lord to Zion", who walks in the midst of his people and will be present again in Jerusalem. Isaiah states that the Lord 'redeemed Jerusalem', a very strong term to describe God's action. In the Bible, to redeem, to redeem means to set free.  In the tradition of the Hebrew people, the Go'el is the next of kin who redeems a family member who has fallen into slavery or who has sold their house to pay debts, and the prophet applies this role to God, a way of emphasising that the Lord is the next of kin of his people and sets them free, redeems them. "The Lord has stretched out his holy arm before all nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God". Something very important must also be emphasised here: during the Babylonian exile there was an important evolution in Jewish theology because Israel understood that God loves all mankind and not just the people he has chosen. Indeed, his people now know that their own election is a mission to serve the salvation of all. We hear this text at Christmas and the words of the prophet "The Lord has stretched out his holy arm before all nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God" take on new meaning for us. We too have the mission to proclaim and bear witness to peace; we are messengers of the gospel that is for all, and on this day we cry out to the whole world: 'Your God is king, your God reigns'.

Responsorial Psalm 97 (98),1-6

 *The People of the Covenant

"All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God". Singing is Israel, which claims the privileged relationship of a small people with the God of the universe, but has understood, little by little, that its mission is not to jealously guard this special relationship, but to proclaim God's love for all, so that the whole of humanity may gradually enter into the Covenant. It is a psalm that shows the two loves of God: his love for the chosen people, Israel, and his love for all mankind, whom the psalmist calls the nations. "The Lord has made his salvation known, in the eyes of the Gentiles he has revealed his righteousness" (v.2) and immediately afterwards, recalling Israel's election, "He has remembered his love, his faithfulness to the house of Israel" (v.3). The words love (chesed) and faithfulness (emet) recall the Covenant and are the same words with which the Lord made himself known in the desert to the people he chose: "The Lord, the merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, preserving his love for a thousand generations" (Ex 34:6-7). Here, God is defined by fundamental characters that are worth remembering: merciful (rachum); pitiful (chanun), rich in love (chesed) and faithfulness (emet). This description of God as 'love and faithfulness' becomes a pivotal point in Israel's faith, which is often found in the psalms and prophets to highlight the faithful and love-filled bond between God and his people along the desert journey. Israel is therefore truly the chosen people, but its election is not for selfish enjoyment, but to become the elder brother of humanity. As André Chouraqui said, 'the people of the Covenant is destined to become the instrument of the Covenant between peoples'. One of the great teachings of the Bible is that God loves all people of every race and culture, not just Israel, and this psalm - which we often find in the liturgy - demonstrates this also in its structure: verses 2 and 3 are constructed according to the pattern of inclusion, which is a literary technique used in the Bible. It is done as a frame to highlight the central text which is the verse concerning Israel: "He remembered his love, his faithfulness to the house of Israel", and the phrases that enclose it speak of the nations: "The Lord has made known his salvation, in the eyes of the Gentiles he has revealed his righteousness", all the ends of the earth - replacing the Gentiles - have seen the victory of our God". The election of Israel is central, set in a frame that emphasises Israel's universal mission: to be a light to all the peoples of the world. When the people of Israel, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, acclaim God as king, they already know they are doing so on behalf of all humanity. As they sing, they imagine the day when God will be recognised as king by the whole earth.

Some further notes. This psalm highlights two themes: the first is the insistence on God's two loves: for Israel, the chosen people, and for all humanity; the second is the proclamation of God's kingship. In the Temple of Jerusalem, they sang: "Acclaim the Lord all the earth, shout, exult, sing hymns", even if the verb to sing is reductive: in Hebrew, the psalm uses language that recalls a cry of victory (teru'ah), like the one raised on the battlefield after a victory, and the term "victory" appears three times in the first verses: "His right hand and his holy arm gave him victory" (v.1); "The Lord has made his victory known, in the eyes of the nations he has revealed his righteousness"(v 2); "All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God"(v 3).

A twofold victory is emphasised: 1.the deliverance from Egypt: "he gave victory his right hand and his holy arm" recalls the divine enterprise of the deliverance from slavery in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. In Deuteronomy we read: "The Lord brought thee out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm" (5:15), a symbol of salvation, and the expression in the psalm "he did wonders" (v 1) is also a reference to the wonders of deliverance from Egypt.  2.The final victory over evil: The psalm also looks to the future final victory, when God will triumph over all the forces of evil and on that day he will be acclaimed king, not in the manner of earthly kings who disappoint, because his victory will be final and will never disappoint. We Christians can acclaim God with even greater vigour, because our eyes contemplate at Christmas the King of the world, the Incarnation of the Son, and we know that the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of love, has already begun. And contemplating the helpless Child in the crib, we cannot help but think that at this moment the saving power of God's arm is in the two tiny hands of a newborn baby. 

Reading from the letter to the Hebrews (1:1-6)

*God spoke to the fathers through the prophets 

"God spoke to the fathers through the prophets": thanks to this sentence, we can guess that the recipients of the Letter to the Hebrews are Jews who have become Christians because a characteristic feature of Israel is precisely the conviction that God has revealed himself progressively to the people he has chosen. Since God is not within man's grasp, it is necessary for him to take the initiative to reveal himself, as we also perceive from the Letter to the Ephesians: "God has made known to us the mystery of his will" (Eph 1:9) because on our own we could never have discovered and thus encountered him. And this happened in a progressive manner equal to the upbringing of a child to whom parents communicate according to his development and in a gradual manner how to understand reality, himself and the society around him. Moses similarly explains God's pedagogy in the book of Deuteronomy: "As a man educates his son, so the Lord your God educates you" (Deut 8:5). God entrusted this gradual education of his people in every age to the prophets who spoke on his behalf and used a manner comprehensible to the mentality of the people and the time because God used a very gradual pedagogy with his people by speaking to them "many times and in various ways" (Heb 1:1). The prophets were thus considered the "mouth of God", as we hear in the celebration of the Mass: "Many times you have offered men your covenant, and through the prophets you have taught them to hope for salvation" (Eucharistic Prayer IV). The author of the Letter to the Hebrews knows that salvation has already been accomplished and for this reason he divides human history into two periods: before Christ is all that he calls the past; after Christ are the days that we are living, the time of fulfilment, since in Jesus the new world has already begun and Christ is the fulfilment of God's plan, which we call the design of divine benevolence. Beginning with Christ's resurrection, which astonished the hearts of the first believers, the conviction of the Christians of the primitive communities gradually formed to the point of realising that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Messiah awaited by the Jewish people, even if in a very different way from the idea they had had in the past. The entire New Testament hinges on this surprising discovery: there were those who awaited a Messiah-King, others a Messiah-Prophet, still others a Messiah-Priest, and in the Letter to the Hebrews, as we read in today's passage, it is said that Jesus Christ is all of this.

Christ is therefore truly Priest, Prophet and King

1. Jesus, the Messiah-Prophet. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews states: "God has spoken to us through his Son". Jesus is the prophet par excellence: if the prophets of the Old Testament were considered to be the "mouth of God", he is the very Word of God, the creative Word "through whom also the world was made" (Heb 1:2); indeed he is "the radiance of his glory", that is, of God (Heb 1:3) as it happened in the episode of the Transfiguration. Jesus said to the disciples in the Upper Room: "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9), thus the perfect expression of God's being.

2. Jesus, the Messiah-Priest. The High Priest had the role of intermediary between God and the sinful people and Jesus, in total and perfect filial relationship of love with the Father, re-establishes the Covenant between God and humanity. He is therefore the high priest par excellence, who accomplishes the 'cleansing of sins', a cleansing that Jesus accomplished, as the author will explain later in his letter, by living his entire life in a perfect dialogue of love and obedience with the Father.

3. Jesus, the Messiah-King. In the Letter to the Hebrews, titles and prophecies are attributed to Jesus here that related to the Messiah: the image of the royal throne, "he sat at the right hand of the majesty in the highest heaven", and above all "You are my Son, today I have begotten you", the title of Son of God was bestowed on the new king on the day of his consecration, an expression that we also find in Psalm number 2. The prophet Nathan had announced: "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son" (2 Sam 7:14). Unlike the kings of the earth, Jesus is king over all creation, even over the angels: "He became so much greater than the angels that the name he inherited was more excellent than theirs" (Heb 1:4), and "When he introduced the firstborn into the world, he said, Let all the angels of God worship him" (Heb 1:6). The author affirms that Christ is God Himself, since only God is entitled to the adoration of angels.

This biblical text not only reveals Christ's greatness, but also our vocation: through baptism we have become priests called to live in communion with God and to intercede for the world; prophets whose mission is to witness the gospel to all with our lives; kings committed to reign over sin and to contribute to the coming of God's Kingdom. Meditating on this biblical page on Christ's Christmas Day is an invitation to contemplate the mystery of Christ's birth and to become aware that the child lying in the manger is the eternal Word, who came to make us sons and daughters of God, priests, prophets and kings, called to share in the glory of the Father for all eternity. 

Gospel according to John (1:1-18)

 *Creation is the fruit of love 

"In the beginning". The evangelist John purposely takes up the first word of Genesis Bereshit and it is necessary to perceive its depth because it is not a mere chronological reference because "what began" is "what guides" all human history, that is, it is the origin and foundation of all things. "In the beginning was the Word": everything is placed under the sign of the Word, the Word of Love indeed, and the meaning of life: therein lies the origin and beginning of all things. "And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (v. 2-3): in Greek it is "pros ton Theon" which literally means "turned towards God", the Word was turned towards God: it is the attitude of dialogue. If I say: 'I love you' I am really dialoguing with someone, I am face to face with you, facing the one I am talking to; if instead I turn my back the dialogue is interrupted and it is necessary to go back to re-establish it. St John states something essential: since nothing was made without the Word, all creation is the fruit of the dialogue of love between the Father and the Son. Each of us was created in this dialogue and for this dialogue: we are the fruit of a dialogue of love. Generated by love, we can say that we are the fruit of God's love and the vocation of humanity, of Adam, to use the Genesis term, is to live a perfect dialogue of love with the Father. However, human history proves otherwise as we read in the account of the fall of Adam and Eve. The second chapter of Genesis clearly shows that the dialogue was broken; the man and woman did not trust God, indeed they suspected that God did not have good intentions towards them: this is the opposite of the dialogue of love. We know from experience that when suspicion invades our relationships, the dialogue becomes poisoned. The whole story of each of us' personal relationship with God could be represented like this: sometimes we are turned towards Him, sometimes we turn away, and then we have to return so that He can re-establish the dialogue. This is exactly the meaning in the Bible of the word conversion 'shùv', which means to return, to turn back, to go home.

Jesus lives this dialogue in a perfect way on a daily basis and takes it upon Himself to guide humanity: one could say that He is the 'yes' of the whole of humanity and it is precisely through Him that we are restored to the primordial dialogue with God: 'To all who received Him, however, He gave power to become children of God: to those who believe in His name'. "To 'become children of God' means to rediscover the filial, trusting, shadowless relationship with him, and Christ's sole purpose is to enable all mankind to enter into this dialogue of love; 'those who believe in his name' are those who entrust themselves to Christ and confidently place themselves in his footsteps. The thought goes to the Upper Room where Jesus expresses his ardent desire: "That all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21) and I am reminded of what Kierkegaard writes: "The opposite of sin is not virtue, the opposite of sin is faith". "Believing" is trusting the Father; it is knowing in all circumstances, whatever happens, that God loves me; it is never suspecting Him and never doubting His love for us and for the world, and consequently being able to look at the world with God's gaze. This is the message that comes to us from the Christmas of the Word made flesh: to look at the world with God's eyes. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us": if He came to be here with us, it is not necessary to flee from the world to encounter God, indeed it is in the "flesh", that is, in everyday reality that we can read and experience His presence. Like John the Baptist, each of us is sent to be a witness to this presence. Each Christmas reminds us of this gift and encourages us to share it with as many people as we can.

+ Govanni D'Ercole

The complexities of existence.
Life is not always easy and the complexities of existence have always existed; they accompany us along the path of our daily lives.
In times gone by, it was often the family doctor who listened to them and associated them as related to the health of his patients and gave them advice.
When, on the other hand, the difficulties were of an ethical nature, people turned to the priest who, through accompaniment and confession, gave suggestions on how to redeem themselves.
Later, with the discovery of psychology in its various forms, people became concerned with human problems. The figure of the psychologist in the broad sense or the psychiatrist joined the previous figures. As far as the field of the psychiatrist is concerned more specifically, the problems are not visible illnesses.
People who are afflicted by life complications are not patients in the usual sense. They can be normal, productive people - as normal as one can be in our community.
Generally, these daily contrarieties may concern interpersonal relationships, the way one works, performance issues... but also the issue of living honestly, in line with one's principles and personal beliefs. Then there are the contrarieties of practical life, which can often accentuate the others.
A lot also depends on our typical behaviours with which we defend ourselves or construct our way of life, and which were formed at an early period - unconsciously imitating people who had meaning in our lives (the so-called character, very succinctly).
Jung argues that the child's unconscious depends on the parental unconscious.
Almost always in my long professional practice I encountered this construct, and I had to struggle to make people understand that it was the parents who triggered the behaviour.
Often when I encountered parents who did not want to accept certain responsibilities, the latter would resort to excuses that did not hold up in any way.
In relationships between individuals, the most annoying issue concerns how we experience our affections.
There are aggressive people who seek people to dominate. There are those who exploit the other (the unwary); and so on.
In love relationships, one has to pay attention to how each one stands towards the other. Let us give some examples.
A woman who suffers because of her spouse who hinders her every development (or vice versa) must understand or be helped to understand that she has somehow sought this situation, and that it is only by finding confidence in her own possibilities and ability to manage herself that she will find relief from her pains.
Otherwise, i.e. if he does not discover his own potential, not even by separating will he solve his problems - because he will unconsciously seek the same kind of spouse.
Only people who are able to respect each other's needs and interests are capable of adult love. We often confuse our own desire with that of the other.
How many times in counselling with couples have I encountered this.
In job difficulties we often find people who move from one job to another because they are not satisfied with the lack of recognition. It may be, for example, an individual with grandiose ideas about his or her aptitudes who has to seek admiration in the work environment .
Then there are people who do creative work and feel that they do not produce as they would like. Here we are often faced with an unachievable perfectionism. Often such individuals are unable to admit that they have limits, and are confronted with their real capabilities.
It then happens that many people turn to an analyst because although they do not have a form of depression, they are not happy with themselves.
In his Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Society, Erich Fromm argues that consumerism leads us to an 'alienation from self'. By 'alienation' he means that which in principle belongs to man and then becomes foreign to him - eventually dominating us.
We must be as others want us to be.
Advertising and fashion itself also consciously influence us, and in this way if we do not conform we can feel backward.
We often get into conflict between our beliefs and the need to 'please' people.
Of course we do not have to be isolationists, but even here a proper balance 'saves' us, since repudiating certain fundamental tenets of our way of being does a lot of damage.
May the coming Christmas enlighten us, show us the way. Not infrequently, here too, we match current population trends, and often forget its true meaning.

Francesco Giovannozzi Psychologist-psychotherapist