Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My sister and her family came to stay on Christmas Eve. They provided a great lunch on Christmas Day. Then I went to visit my father and stepmother on the south coast, and over the next day or two I shall be seeing friends. That pattern of activity, I am sure, is repeated in all our families around Christmas.
The Church, too, has a pattern of feasts to celebrate the mystery and the meaning of the birth of Jesus. Today we celebrate the solemn feast of the Holy Family. In the Gospel there are some testing moments for Mary and Joseph as they search for Jesus. When they find him in the temple, they have to cope with Jesus’ response. “‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.”
How many parents will identify with the emotions Mary and Joseph must have experienced in that episode? They are emotions that arise out of the deep love that parents have for their children. It is within the family unit that most of us learn about love and emotion. Recently, I was with a group of bishops. We were remembering happy and traumatic events in our upbringing at home. We were amazed how relatively insignificant words and actions from the past still had an impact on us.
Yes, our families are very precious, and our homes are holy places. It is at home that we learn what is important. They are schools of faith and love. Of course, no family is perfect, and we all need one another’s support, especially within our parish communities.
I am really keen that we encourage our young people to embrace the Sacrament of Marriage. There is a nervousness about the commitment of marriage. Yet, it is within that commitment, that the grace of the Sacrament becomes active. It is within that commitment that most of us are born and flourish.
Today there is a whole wedding industry advertising glamorous venues for weddings with a unique character. A wedding can become a consumer item with no thought for the future. But what can be more special than to exchange vows simply and solemnly before the altar of God?
For us, married life represents the love that Christ has for his Church. It is a sacrificial and irrevocable love. In their constant love for each other a couple share in that love of Christ which, in turn, strengthens and sustains them. By their own faithfulness, a married couple witness to God’s faithful love, the love we celebrate in this Christmas season.
On this solemn feast let us give thanks for the gift of marriage and of our families. Let us pray for those who are experiencing difficulties, for those who are widowed, and for those who are separated or divorced. And please do not forget those of us who are single. Together let us pledge ourselves anew to promote and support the sanctity of marriage.
As we pray in the alternative Opening Prayer of today’s Mass, “Father, teach us the sanctity of human love, show us the value of family life, and help us to live in peace with all peoples, that we may share in your life for ever. Amen.”
With every blessing for the New Year,
Peter, Bishop of Northampton