Angelus: 27 December 1987
The Holiness of the Family
by
Pope John Paul II
On the Sunday following the feast of
Christmas the Holy Father prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered in the courtyard
of his residence in Castel Gandolfo; before leading the prayer he gave the following
reflection:
 Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. This Sunday, which comes soon after the Solemnity of Christmas,
is dedicated by the Church to celebrate the Holy Family.
Having concentrated our attention in recent days on the mystery
of the Son of God Who
became a Child for the salvation
of all, we are invited to meditate on that cradle of love
and acceptance known as the family.
The official title of the liturgical feast is "the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph".
The title alone expresses the entire sublime reality of a human-divine
fact, presenting to our eyes a model to reproduce in our life, so that every family,
especially Christian ones, would be committed to realize in themselves
that harmony, integrity,
peace, and love
which were the wondrous prerogatives of the Family of Nazareth.
2. The holiness of the family is the
chief way and the necessary path to construct a new and better society, and restore hope
for the future to a world oppressed by so many threats.
Therefore, may Christian families of today be able to learn in the school
of the Holy Family, that center of love
and limitless giving. The Son of God
became small, and like all those born of woman, He
received a mother's continual care. Mary,
ever a virgin, daily dedicated her own life
to the sublime mission of motherhood, and for this also all nations today call her blessed. Joseph,
appointed to protect the mystery of the divine sonship of Jesus and the virginal
motherhood of Mary, fulfilled his role conscientiously in silence and obedience to
the divine will. What a school! What a mystery!
3. The Son of God came to earth
to save every human being,
transforming him profoundly from within, to make him like Himself,
Son of the heavenly Father. In the
fulfillment of that task, He lived the
greater part of His earthly existence in the
bosom of a family, in order to make us understand the irreplaceable importance of this
basic cell of society, which virtually contains the entire organism.
The family is of itself sacred because
human life is sacred, and it is only within
the aspect of the family institution that it can be generated, developed
and reach perfection in a manner consonant with human
dignity. Tomorrow's society will be what today's family is.
Unfortunately, at present, it is subject to all types of dangers
from those who seek to destroy its
fabric and to menace its natural
and supernatural unity, undermining the moral values on which it is founded with all the
means which the permissiveness of modern society places at their disposal, especially the
mass media, and negating the essential principle of respect for the sacredness
of every human life from the first moment of its existence. We must rediscover the living
meaning of the human and Christian prerogative of the family and its undeniable function:
to be a community profoundly united in love
so as to offer the new life a warm and secure nest in which the new human being can be
taught to esteem himself and others, to recognize true
values, and to know and love
the heavenly Father, "from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named"
(Ephesians 3:15).
Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray to Jesus,
Mary and Joseph
that everywhere the unequaled gift of the sanctity
of the family will be reborn.
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