{"id":27370,"date":"2012-12-30T16:52:26","date_gmt":"2012-12-30T20:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-holy-family-of-nazareth\/"},"modified":"2012-12-30T16:52:26","modified_gmt":"2012-12-30T20:52:26","slug":"the-holy-family-of-nazareth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-holy-family-of-nazareth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Family of Nazareth: an &#8216;incomparable gift from God&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<div class=\"zemanta-img mt-image-right\" style=\"margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; display: block; float: right; width: 300px; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:HolyFamilybyGutierrez.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/f\/f5\/HolyFamilybyGutierrez.jpg\/300px-HolyFamilybyGutierrez.jpg\" alt=\"English: Holy Family, Mary, Joseph, and child ...\" width=\"300\" class=\"zemanta-img-configured\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;\">Today is the<br \/>\nfeast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In the liturgy the passage from Luke&#8217;s<br \/>\nGospel presents the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph who, <u>faithful to tradition<\/u>, go<br \/>\nto Jerusalem for the Passover with the twelve-year-old Jesus. The first time<br \/>\nJesus had entered the Temple of the Lord was forty days after his birth, when<br \/>\nhis parents had offered &#8220;a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons&#8221;<br \/>\n(Luke 2:24) on his behalf, which is the sacrifice of poor. &#8220;Luke, whose<br \/>\nGospel is filled with a whole theology of the poor and poverty, makes it clear<br \/>\n&#8230; that Jesus&#8217; family was counted among the poor of Israel; he helps us to<br \/>\nunderstand that it was there among them where the fulfillment of God&#8217;s promise<br \/>\nmatured&#8221; ( <i>The Infancy Narratives<\/i>, 96). <u>Today Jesus is in the Temple<br \/>\nagain<\/u>, but this time he has a different role, which involves him in the first<br \/>\nperson. He undertakes the pilgrimage to Jerusalem as prescribed by the Law (Ex<br \/>\n23.17, 34.23 ff) <u>together with Mary and Joseph<\/u>, although he was not yet in his<br \/>\nthirteenth year:<b> a sign<\/b> of the deep religiosity of the Holy Family. But when<br \/>\nhis parents return to Nazareth, something unexpected happens: he, without<br \/>\nsaying anything, remains in the City. For three days, Mary and Joseph search<br \/>\nfor him and find him in the Temple, speaking with the teachers of the Law (Lk<br \/>\n2: 46 ,47), and when they ask him for an explanation, Jesus tells them they<br \/>\nhave no cause to wonder, because that is his place, that is his home, with the<br \/>\nFather, who is God (<i>The Infancy Narratives<\/i> 143). &#8220;He &#8211; Origen writes &#8211;<br \/>\n<u>professes to be in the temple of his Father<\/u>, the Father who has revealed<br \/>\nHimself to us and of which he says he is the Son&#8221; (Homilies on the Gospel<br \/>\nof Luke, 18, 5).<\/span><br \/>\n<!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top:10px;height:15px\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/?px\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=0be58862-4f21-4137-b2f4-06d7aa95ad91\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" style=\"border:none;float:right\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; \">Mary and Joseph&#8217;s concern for Jesus is the same as every parent who educates a child, introduces them to life and to understanding reality. Today, therefore, we should say a special prayer to the Lord for all the families of the world.&nbsp;<b>Imitating the Holy Family of Nazareth<\/b>, may parents seriously concern themselves about the growth and education of their children, so that they may mature as responsible and honest citizens, without ever forgetting that faith is a precious gift to be nourished in their children through personal example. At the same time we pray that every child is welcomed as a gift from God, is sustained by the love of the father and mother in order to advance as the Lord Jesus &#8220;in wisdom and age and favour before God and man &#8221; (Lk 2: 52).&nbsp;<b>The love, loyalty and dedication of Mary and Joseph are an example for all Christian couples who are neither the friends nor masters of their children&#8217;s lives, but the guardians of this&nbsp;<u>incomparable gift from God<\/u><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; \"><u>The silence of Joseph<\/u>, the just man (cf. Mt 1:19), and the example of Mary who kept all things in her heart (cf. Lk 2:51),&nbsp;<u>causes us to enter into the mystery full of faith and humanity<\/u>&nbsp;of the Holy family. I wish for all Christian families to live in the presence of God with the same love and the same joy as the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; \">Pope Benedict XVI<\/span><br \/><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; \">Sunday Angelus<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \"><font class=\"Apple-style-span\" face=\"'Times New Roman'\">30 December 2012<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is the feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In the liturgy the passage from Luke&#8217;s Gospel presents the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph who, faithful to tradition, go to Jerusalem for the Passover with the twelve-year-old Jesus. The first time Jesus had entered the Temple of the Lord was forty days after his &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-holy-family-of-nazareth\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Holy Family of Nazareth: an &#8216;incomparable gift from God&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1875,2269,3068,32081],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}