On Sunday, December 28, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful to continue to pray for peace in the world, and especially for families that are suffering at the hands of violent conflicts.
“In the light of the Lord’s Christmas, let us continue to pray for peace. Today, in particular, let us pray for families suffering because of war, for children, the elderly, and the most vulnerable. Let us entrust ourselves together to the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth,” said Pope Leo XIV during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
In his reflection, the Pope highlighted how Christian families can be a light in the society in which we live — which is not only marked by conflitcs but also by isolation and discord — by reflecting on the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt shortly after Jesus’ birth to escape King Herod’s persecution.
“Unfortunately, the world always has its ‘Herods,’ its myths of success at any cost, of unscrupulous power, of empty and superficial well-being, and it often pays the price in the form of loneliness, despair, divisions and conflicts,” Pope Leo said.
“Let us not allow these mirages to suffocate the flame of love in Christian families.”
He instead invited families to cherish the values of the Gospel by praying, receiving the sacraments — especially Confession and Communion — and promoting “healthy affections, sincere dialogue, fidelity, and the simple and beautiful concreteness of everyday words and gestures.”
He called them to become a “light of hope” and “a school of love and an instrument of salvation in God’s hands.”
Pope Leo’s reflection was based on the Gospel of the day, taken from Matthew, in which the evangelist describes how an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to flee to Egypt, as King Herod was trying to find Baby Jesus and kill Him.
The Pope described Herod as “a cruel and bloodthirsty man” who is deeply lonely and lives in fear of being deposed.
“In his kingdom, God is performing the greatest miracle in history, in which all the ancient promises of salvation are fulfilled, but he cannot see this because he is blinded by the fear of losing his throne, riches, and privileges,” the Pope explains.
He emphasized, however, that “it is precisely this hardness of heart” that further “highlights the value of the presence and mission of the Holy Family.”
“In the despotic and greedy world represented by the tyrant, it is the birthplace and cradle of the only possible answer of salvation, that of God who, in total gratuitousness, gives Himself to men without reserve and without pretension,” he said.
The Pope also underlined how Joseph is obedient to God’s plan and in Egypt “the flame of domestic love, to which the Lord has entrusted His presence in the world, grows and gainsstrength in order to bring light to the whole world.”
At the end of his message Pope Leo asked the Lord, through Mary and Joseph’s intercession, to bless all the families throughout the world, so that by following Christ’s example “they may be for all an efficacious sign of His presence and His endless charity.”
