 |
|
|
|
|
|
Pastoral
Letters
|
Pastoral Letter for The Feast of The Holy Family 2006 Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord, One of my most precious memories of this last year has to be the pilgrimage that a group of us from the diocese made to Jordan in the autumn. Visiting the roots and beginnings of our Christian heritage was very moving. But the one memory which I will really treasure comes from time spent in the Sinai desert. The younger and fitter members of the pilgrimage had gone to climb Mount Sinai to witness the sunrise but I, and a couple of others, chose to take a walk in the surrounding desert and look at the mountain from afar. As we were walking back, we passed by a small Bedouin village and as we did so, a young lad of about 15 came out to greet us. Not only did he do that, but he invited us into his home so that he could offer us refreshment. So we soon found ourselves in his home with his mother and father, brothers and sisters, drinking tea and coffee and, as it happened, talking about football! It was hospitality and trust and sharing on an extraordinary level, considering that we were total strangers and foreigners as well. The memory of that moment has remained with me and it still moves me because, in many ways, it was an illustration of the strength of family, the sacredness of the home and the openness and generosity of a people who “make hospitality their special care” as St Paul puts it As evidence of the “holy space” which is the home, our Muslim friends took off their shoes as they entered, though with gentle courtesy, they told us not to bother. That too was for me a significant gesture. The home, at its best, is “holy ground” which needs to be experienced and even touched. It is the place which provides the context for loving relationships, it is the place where God can be found because “they who love, know God.” The “holy ground”, which is the home, is the space – the safe and sacred space – where we are free “to grow in wisdom, stature and favour with God and man.” This is family at its best. Sadly, we know only too well that this is not always the case. Sometimes the home, far from being a place for the nurture and experience of love, becomes a place of suffering, argument, strife and even violence. This is one of the tragic aspects of our modern society. But our Christian experience urges us not to let go of the ideal or of our striving to make it a reality. The home as the seedbed of the living of the Gospel – the home as that “sacred space” in which all are welcomed, reverenced and valued – these are precious understandings and they demand our generous and loving acceptance because they are rooted in the Gospel and in the Kingdom of God where all are brothers and sisters of the Lord. I reflect on these things today and offer you these thoughts because today is the Feast of The Holy Family. The message presented to us today by that almost impossibly holy Family is one of trust and obedience and love; it is a message that we need to grasp and make our own. I am conscious that I speak out of my own experience of happy and fulfilled family life, which is not the experience of all. But I want to encourage you all to reach out for those values, which are at the heart of Christian family life, and to pray for these gifts “because nothing is impossible to God.” As I do so, I want to give you all – even if a little belatedly – my Christmas greetings and my promise of prayer for the whole family of this diocese which is ours. Thank you too for the many greetings I have received from so many of you. We really are a family of the faith and, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we journey in that faith together as we love and support each other along the way. I pray with you and for you that 2007 will be full of blessings for us all and that, in particular, it will be a time when we can experience, in all its richness, the holiness of our homes and the sacredness of the space in which we live as family. May God bless you all and may I wish you all a very Happy New Year. + Crispian To be read or made available at all Masses over the weekend of 30th/31st December 2006, the Feast of The Holy Family.
|
