The Holy Family teaches us the importance of listening, Pope tells pilgrims
December 30, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph offers a model of communication and mutual listening, Pope Francis emphasized in his Angelus address for the feast day.
The day’s Gospel reading at Mass (Luke 2:41-52), in which the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph find the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, “appears to be the story of a family crisis, a crisis of our times, of a difficult teenager and two parents who are unable to understand him,” Pope Francis said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
He continued, “Do you know why the Family of Nazareth is a model? Because it is a family that converses, that listens, that talks ... It is good when a mother does not start with a rebuke, but with a question. Mary does not accuse and does not judge, but tries to understand how to accept this Son who is so different by listening.”
“The Gospel says that Mary and Joseph ‘did not understand what He said to them’ (Luke 2:50), showing that in the family it is more important to listen than to understand,” the Pope added. “Let us entrust ourselves to the Virgin Mary and ask for our families the gift of listening.”
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