Family, Foundation of Humanity
While addressing the 7th World Meeting of Families, Pope Benedict XVI said, “Without the family humanity has no future; young people in particular need to learn the values that give meaning to life, they need to be born into and grow up in that community of life and love which God himself desired for men and women.”
This weekend as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, we are invited to focus on the family life that we live in the present world. Family is the most important aspect of our life. It is the basic social structure that gives us protection and holds our civilization strong. All the human values that Christianity holds close to her, like – love, peace, joy, compassion, care…– can be lived well, only in the context of a proper family.
The words of Pope Benedict XVI are very true and extremely powerful, “without the family, humanity has no future”. It is in the context of family, especially on the lap of our parents and sometimes grandparents, that we learn the values of love and forgiveness. Family teaches its young ones, for the first time, how to receive love and share it with others; forgive each other and care for each other’s well-being. It is the family that forms us and makes us true human beings. In a way, family gives us our identity.
True faith in God is passed on to us in the family. If we want to create the best possible family for the future our children, then one thing we must remember is to give them the taste of God. The Psalmist invites us to taste the goodness of our God – “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps 34:8). Love and respect for God is a key ingredient that makes a family, an ideal family. The best family values are biblical values – given by God – and only they can make us true human persons.
Today’s First Reading reflects on God’s invitation to Abraham, our father of faith. In that invitation, God invited Abraham to have a personal relationship with Him. It is the first step in making all humanity true children of God.
The Gospel passage presents the Holy Family of Nazareth as an ideal for family living. The Holy Family shared unconditional love with each other and offered everything they had to God. In today’s reading, Jesus, who was given to us as a gift at Christmas, is offered back to God. It is an offering made at the temple in Jerusalem on behalf of the whole of humanity, and in thanksgiving by the young couple Mary and Joseph.
Faith-filled family is the surest hope for the future, for they are led by the hand of God.
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa