The Feast of the Holy Family – Year A: 28.12.25
Pope Francis in his Papal Bull announcing this Jubilee Year Spes non confundit decreed that the Year would be formally ended in every diocese on this day, the Feast of the Holy Family, and would end in Rome on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, with the closing of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Yes there were just five Holy Doors, the four great Papal Basilica’s: St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore, St. John Lateran and St. Paul outside the Walls. The fifth Holy Door was inside the walls of a Prison, the Rebibbia New Complex Prison in Rome and it was opened by Pope Francis on December 26th, 2024 “as a sign inviting those in prison to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence”[1].
I hope after this past year we all can look to the future with a greater appreciation of hope and a renewed sense of confidence. A hope and a faith in him born in a manger, but born into a family. I’m conscious we gather on the fourth day of the Christmas Octave, still very much in that celebratory mood.
… and so brothers and sisters, we have experienced together the Jubilee Year. As a single people we have offered our praise …
Homily:
The liturgy of the Feast of the Holy Family brings us the dreams of Joseph, dreams to protect, to flee and to settle in a new land. The Jubilee of Hope, begun by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo, reaches its pinnacle this day. As we close this Jubilee Year we take our moment to gather up our fears, our anxieties and entrust them to the one born in a stable in Bethlehem, the one taken by his parents into Egypt, before eventually settling in Nazareth, the one born into a family. He alone can consign our fears to history. He can make sense of whatever stuff is happening in our lives. There is nothing we might be experience that He can’t unpack and unravel for us.
I often wonder what Mary made of all this coming and going. She obviously never questioned it, her trust in Joseph was paramount. Trust in any relationship is key. I love the John Hogan sculpture here in the Cathedral, depicting the family at Nazareth, we might say it covers ‘the missing years’.
The gospel begins: “after the wise men had left”[2]. Well unless they climbed off their camels and boarded a TGV we understand them to be still on their journey. Then again that is our interpretation of the Nativity from today’s perspective. Things can happen in different order than perhaps our calendar might suggest.
On Christmas Day the Holy Door in Santa Maria Maggiore closed; yesterday the door in St. John Lateran closed, today the one in St. Paul’s outside the Walls will close and then on Epiphany, January 6th, the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica will close to bring the Year to a close. You may ask when did the one in the Rebibbia Prison close? That happened last Sunday. At diocesan level today we draw the Jubilee Year to a close.
It’s appropriate and fitting to acknowledge and thank the many people who engaged in this Jubilee Year. Those who made their homes a Jubilee place of pilgrimage; those who travelled to St. Brigid’s Church, Kildare to see the Relic of St. Brigid, gifted to the parish by the sisters in Tullow in 2024 and those in prison who saw passing through their prison cell door an opportunity to be renewed and reconciled with God, with themselves and with those on the outside. We have been invited to become Pilgrims of Hope. This invitation was about recognising that our Christian life itself is a pilgrimage, lived day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, step by step, accompanying one another.
The first place of pilgrimage was back to our own homes, and today on the Feast of the Holy Family, I repeat the importance of family, of home, of the familial connections that are so special in life and so prevalent these very days. In marking the end of the Jubilee Year, its spirit remains. The call to be pilgrims of hope remains. What a difference our diocese would be if every home became a place where hope blossoms, if the two prisons in our diocese became more than just places of incarceration and detention, if a relic that is a tangible link to the foundation of our diocese offered a renewed hope for our shared future together.
The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that growing up in a family we come to learn that the world is bigger than ME! It’s not all about my rights, others have rights to: “you can’t have it, it’s your brothers” is a good early lesson and indeed “stop crying, you’ll wake your sister”. A baby’s first smile makes a very important statement: “I’m loved and I’m lovable”. The first lesson learnt is how to receive love. And later learning that others have rights is the beginning of responsibility. We see it these days as we gather as families. I saw it yesterday as fourteen month old baby Eva moved with pace around the kitchen floor on her little bottom going from her German dad to her Irish mam, my niece and back again. Her first words were ‘Mam’, ‘Dad’ and ‘Nein’. She is being reared hearing two languages.
Josephs dreams led him in several directions. Mathews infancy account focuses on God’s part in that story, God’s intervention through the voice of an angel. God is guiding events and He is guiding them in our lives also. We don’t need a Jubilee Year to be Pilgrims of Hope. Hope is not empty wishful thinking or an airy optimism; the virtue of hope focuses our gaze on what lies beyond, it kept Joseph focused and it should help our focus. Maybe it’s the forgiveness and reconciliation that will make our home a better home. It’s not only babies and infants who are able to learn lessons such as English or German, we can all learn the language of mercy and make our homes intentional places of hope!
[1] Pope Francis words on December 26th 2024 in front of the Prison Chapel, Rebibbia New Complex Prison, Rome
[2] Mt.2:13