The Family: the
Formation of Humanity
(2015 Feast of Holy Family)
Dear
Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Today,
as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Our Lord Christ, the Blessed
Virgin Mother, and Blessed Joseph, we recall into our mind the solemn
celebration of the Birthday of Christ, just come two days ago, with songs,
prayers, wishes and delicious food and drink.
The
is a very important relation between the two celebrations: one is the coming of
God the Almighty, the Invisible into our human nature, the event described by
Saint John the Evangelist, “the Word
became flesh and made His dwelling place among us”[1]
and the other is the God Creator of all creation now in order to be truly human
like each and one of us, in every aspect,[2]
has a family. Saint Paul confirming this belief writes, “When the fullness of
time has come, God sent His Son, born of a woman.”[3] The sign given by the angels to the
shepherds in order for them to recognize the Son of God becoming human being
was, “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”[4]
The
above mentioned tells us the truth that in order for God to become human being,
He needed a family. In other words,
family is the place for formation of humanity.
As
a matter of fact, God was the Founder of the family institution when He created
the first man and woman and united them as two human persons, into one body,
one life, one love, and one hope for everlasting happiness.[5]
God gave the first couple the power of
procreation, meaning to say, the capacity of giving birth to other human
beings. Children are, therefore, the
fruit of the self-giving act, sealed with an undivided and inseparable love of
their parents.
It
is within the family that a child grows up, learning to think, speak and react
the way all human persons should.
It
is within the family that a child experiences mutual love, care and
respect.
It
is within the family that a child learns the meaning of self-giving and
self-sacrifice.
These
are the basic components for the formation of human persons. No other institutions but the family can accomplish
this great mission for which the family becomes vital to both the society and
the Church.
Without
the family, founded on marital institution, the unbreakable union between a man
and a woman, and forever bound in faithful love, there could be experts working
in science and technology fields, politician and military elite who decide on
the fate of millions of people. Unfortunately, they are far from being
human. They may have big brain but they
have no heart. They are like tools
produced just in order to serve some ideological organizations.
Underlining
the importance of the family in the formation of the human person, Saint John
Paul II wrote:
Among these many paths, the family is
the first and the most important. It is
a path common to all, yet one which is particular, unique and unrepeatable,
just as every individual is unrepeatable; it is a path from which man cannot
withdraw. Indeed, a person normally
comes into the world within a family, and can be said to owe the family the
very fact of his existing as an individual.
When he has no family, the person coming into the world develops an
anguished sense of pain and loss, one which will subsequently burden his whole
life.[6]
By Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
[1]
Jn 1:14.
[2]
See Heb 4:15.
[3]
Gal 4:4.
[4]
Lk 2:12.
[5]
See Gn 1:27; 2:24.
[6]
Letter to Families, 2.
