In the joy of the Christmas octave and in the context of the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, we share the Circular Letter No. 50 of our Superior General, Graciela Francovig, FI.
It is an invitation to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation from the daily experience of care, family life and commitment to the most fragile realities, allowing ourselves to be personally and communally challenged.
The Holy Family: place where God learns to be human
Merry Christmas to all! In the octave of the Nativity of the Lord, the liturgy offers us the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In the plan of salvation, it was foreseen that the incarnate Son of God would be born into a family, with a mother and a father. There, Jesus grows in wisdom and grace, he learns to be human little by little. And it is there, after almost thirty years, that he discovers the mission to which the Father sends him.
In today’s Gospel, we read three times, in different circumstances, the command that God gives to Joseph: “take care of the child and his mother”. Until arriving in Nazareth, which will be the simple and humble home of the family for 30 years.
If there is one word we associate with family, it is the word care: family is the sphere in which we care for one another. Care is finesse and delicacy in love. We all need care and, in a particular way, those who are weak or in a situation of weakness need care. Children and the elderly need constant care; we all need care in times of crisis, difficulty, weakness.
The Gospel presents us with a situation of flight because of the danger they faced, like so many families today who have to flee because of wars, drought or abundant rain, poverty and hunger. Let us be attentive to so many families that today live these situations. What does the Lord say to me in front of the disadvantaged families that we know today? What does he invite us to, he invites me to? What is clear is that we cannot remain indifferent. We can do something to change the reality of others.
In the family, faith is transmitted along with life, from generation to generation: it is shared like the bread on the table and the affections of the heart. This makes it a privileged place to meet Jesus, who loves us and always wants our good.
Let us take care of the family institution… Let us be grateful today to our families, our parents, grandparents and siblings. There we learned to love, to weave relationships, to take care of each other.
Looking back on the year we have lived and preparing for the year to come
I would like to end with an expression of Pope Leo XIV in his Christmas Eve homily:
Sisters and brothers, the contemplation of the Word made flesh gives rise to a new and true word in the whole Church: let us proclaim the joy of Christmas, which is a feast of faith, charity and hope. It is a feast of faith, because God becomes man, being born of the Virgin. It is a feast of charity, because the gift of the redeeming Son is realized in fraternal self-giving. It is a feast of hope, because the child Jesus kindles hope in us, making us messengers of peace. With these virtues in our hearts, without fearing the night, we can go to meet the dawn of the new day.I say goodbye with a big hug to each one of you, thanking all the communities for their Christmas and Immaculate Conception greetings. I also ask you to be grateful for the great events that we have experienced in this year 2025, at the world, ecclesial and congregational levels. And that we prepare our hearts to receive with great courage and liberality the new year that is already approaching.
