Shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, fifty-six years ago, in order to continue the spirit of engagement of the Church in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI established what is called the Synod of Bishops: Bishops from around the world would meet periodically at the request of the Holy Father, to provide him counsel regarding important questions facing the Church.
You may have heard that Pope Francis recently has asked the Bishops to prepare for a Synod on Synods. It seems kind of abstract, but he wants the bishops to help him reflect upon what it means for the church to be constantly examining her mission in light of the new challenges and changes in society.
Well, there was a synod, just six years ago, which met at the request of Holy Father Pope Francis. Bishops from around the world met with him to discuss an issue, perpetually and continually deeply important to the Church: the pastoral care and promotion of marriage and families.
The last time a Synod of Bishops discussed marriage and family was back in 1980, at the request of Pope John Paul II. And afterwards St. John Paul issued a post-synodal apostolic exhortation called, Familiaris Consortio. He listened to all the issues the Bishops brought up about the challenges of families, and issued this beautiful document, Familiaris Consortio, how the Church is at the service of families. Definitely worth the read, if you are into papal documents.
“The family in the modern world”, wrote Pope John Paul, “as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life.”
In other words, from the Pope’s perspective, there are those families who are trying to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching, like so many of you. Then, there are those who are confused about what it means to be faithful. And, then there are those who have no idea about Jesus’ teachings. And he wrote that 41 years ago. And that was 40 years ago.
Fast forward to 2015. Pope Francis calls another synod on the family, he listens to bishops, and he listens to families about their struggles, and he compiles all of these thoughts, plus his own, of course…he’s pope, into a post-synodal apostolic exhortation called Amoris Laetitia. And in this document, Holy Father Pope Francis enumerated a number of challenges for families, especially in their calling to love one another.
He mentioned materialism. Materialism, the love of stuff, keeps us from loving out family as we should.
He mentioned narcissism. “Narcissism”, he says, makes people incapable of looking beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and needs.
He spoke of the cultural ideologies that devalue marriage and family, the fear that some young people have of entering into such a commitment, this false notion of overpopulation fueled by world politics which leads to a mentality against having children, the perversion of “spread of pornography and the commercialization of the body, fostered also by a misuse of the internet,” and of course, “the weakening of faith and religious practice” which over all has disastrous consequences for society. If God is absent in the life of families, how will families fulfill their God given vocation?
What got me thinking about all of these synods on the family, of course, is that today, we celebrate the great Christmas feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The Holy Family is the great example for Christian family life, and their virtues are the remedy for the ills and errors which undermine Christian family life.
Where society values materialism, we see the Holy Family practicing holy poverty. Not only was the Christ child born in the straw poverty of the Bethlehem stable, but the Holy Family was not among the rich and influential of their time. When the Holy Family journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem to participate in the Jewish ritual of purification for a new mother, Joseph couldn’t even afford to purchase a lamb for a burnt offering as was prescribed. He could only offer a poor man’s oblation—two turtledoves or young pigeons.
Moreso, the Holy Family embodied the first of the beatitudes the Lord would enumerate in his Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven.” The holy family places their trust and confidence in God rather than material possessions and worldly power.
Where society values narcissism, we see the Holy Family practicing such sweet and holy charity towards others. On the 4th Sunday of advent, we read of Our Lady going in haste to help her elderly cousin Elizabeth. Our Lady in the Gospel is attentive to the needs of the couple at the wedding at Cana. St. Joseph looks to the needs of Mary and Jesus, as the great guardian of the holy family, protecting them from Herod’s murderous plots, providing for them through years of labor and sweat.
Where society continues to allow perversion to erode respect for human persons, both Mary and Joseph exemplify our call to purity and chastity and self-control, and remind us to become the people God made us to be. In their purity and chastity, they fulfilled another one of the Lord’s Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” They teach us to guard our eyes and our minds from those evils which keeps us from seeing God.
Where we see in many countries, including our own, a sharp decline in religious practice and fulfillment of religious obligations among families, the Holy Family shows us that that great strength and wisdom is found in our religious duties. As we see in the Gospel today, the Holy Family was accustomed to making the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. And even though it required sacrifice and effort to make that pilgrimage, they were faithful. And their fulfillment of this obligation was not without drama, as it is for many families. How often, when it’s time to go to church, are the children missing. But the effort is made, and families are stronger for it.
In the holy family we see the remedy, for the evils that beset us, and the challenges of the Church in the modern world. We need your families to imitate the holy family. The Church, the mission of the church given to us by Christ, needs you and your family to imitate his holy family.
Listen to this beautiful Prayer composed by Pope Francis invoking the Holy Family.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we contemplate the splendor of true love, to you we turn with trust. Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our families too may be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic Churches. Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejection and division: may all who have been hurt or scandalized find ready comfort and healing. Holy Family of Nazareth…make us once more mindful of the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God's plan. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, graciously hear our prayer.”
As we continue this Christmas season, allow the Holy Family to help your family love and trust God, value the things of heaven over the things of earth, to practice purity and chastity, and bring about healing of division, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
