Family, good news: Commentary by Fr. Jorge Miró

Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, December 29, 2024, entitled “Family, good news”

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Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. God wanted to be born and grow up in a human family, so he consecrated it as the first and ordinary path of his encounter with humanity.

Marriage and family are not human inventions resulting from particular cultural and historical situations, nor are they social conventions, empty rites, or the mere external sign of a commitment.

God has a plan for marriage and family, as Jesus tells us: the Creator, in the beginning, created them male and female, and said: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” “What God has joined together, let no man separate.” The sacrament of marriage is a gift for the sanctification and salvation of spouses, because “their reciprocal belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the very relationship of Christ with the Church. The spouses are, therefore, the permanent reminder for the Church of what happened on the cross; they are witnesses for each other and their children of the salvation in which the sacrament makes them sharers.” Marriage is a vocation, insofar as it is a response to the specific call to live conjugal love as an imperfect sign of the love between Christ and the Church (cf. AL 71).

The Christian family is called to be a true domestic Church in which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone on which the house is built: Let the word of Christ dwell among you in all its richness; teach one another in all wisdom; admonish one another. Sing to God, giving thanks from the heart… whatever you do in word or deed, let it all be in the name of Jesus.

A domestic Church that lives, celebrates and proclaims the faith: that Jesus Christ lives and is the Lord of the family. And, therefore, a family that prays as a family, both the spouses and the entire family.

It is called to be a community of life and love. A community in which one lives with a love like that of Christ. St. Paul has reminded us: clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Bear with one another and forgive one another if any of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you: do the same.

A community in which each person is loved for what he is and not for what he is worth or what he contributes. A community that wants to live in truth and respect; in forgiveness and mercy, always seeking the good of the other, especially the little one, the weakest.

A community that accompanies wounded people in their suffering and helps them to heal and grow. We must not judge or condemn people, but rather accompany them in their suffering, help them to discern God’s will, heal their wounds instead of enlarging them, and by realizing the truth in charity, help them to grow in faith and live it in the Church (cf. AL 243).

Christians cannot give up proposing marriage in order not to contradict current sensibilities, in order to be fashionable (…). We would be depriving the world of the values ​​that we can and must contribute (…). We must make a more responsible and generous effort, which consists in presenting the reasons and motivations for choosing marriage and family, so that people are better disposed to respond to the grace that God offers them (cf. AL 35).

Present your family to the Lord and ask him for the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that he may renew it and grant you communion.

Pray for all families, especially those who are suffering and going through difficulties.

Come, Holy Spirit!