Pope Francis at Mass: the pilgrim family at the center

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family and the Jubilee of Families in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. In his homily, the Holy Father focused on the family on pilgrimage – in ways great and small, making its way through life, toward the ultimate goal of perfect joy in the House of the Father, forever.

The Holy Father drew on the readings of the day, which told of the Old Testament figures, Elkanah and Hannah, who brought their son Samuel to the Temple of Shiloh to consecrate him to the Lord (cf. 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28), and of Joseph and Mary, who went with Our Lord in His boyhood as pilgrims to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover (cf. Lk 2:41-52).

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“How important it is for our families to journey together towards a single goal,” said Pope Francis.  “We know that we have a road to travel together,” he went on to say, “a road along which we encounter difficulties but also enjoy moments of joy and consolation,” especially in the moments of shared prayer that punctuate our days – or ought to punctuate them – and thus help us maintain contact with the sacred rhythm of life. “What can be more beautiful than for a father and mother to bless their children at the beginning and end of each day, to trace on their forehead the sign of the cross, as they did on the day of their baptism?” reflected Pope Francis, who also indicated meal times as a privileged moment in which to express gratitude for God’s provident goodness and learn to share what we have received with those in greater need. “These are all little gestures,” he said, “yet they point to the great formative role played by the family in the pilgrimage of everyday life.”

Reflecting in a moment of spiritual imagination that envisioned the scene once the Holy Family had returned home, Pope Francis suggested that it is not impossible that even Our Lord might have asked His mother and foster father to excuse (It. chiedere scusa) Him the worry and consternation He caused them while he was about His Father’s business in the Temple, teaching the Teachers of the Law.

“In the Year of Mercy,” said Pope Francis, “every Christian family can become a privileged place on this pilgrimage for experiencing the joy of forgiveness: forgiveness is the essence of the love which can understand mistakes and mend them,” and, “ – how miserable we would be if God did not forgive us,” Pope Francis asked, in pointed departure from his prepared text. “Within the family we learn how to forgive, because we are certain that we are understood and supported, whatever the mistakes we make.”

The Holy Father concluded with an exhortation: “Let us not lose confidence in the family!” he said. “It is beautiful when we can always open our hearts to one another, and hide nothing.  Where there is love, there is also understanding and forgiveness.  To all of you, dear families, I entrust this most important mission - the domestic pilgrimage of daily family life - which the world and the Church need, now more than ever.”