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Office Of Readings | Christmas | Sunday In The Octave Of Christmas | The Holy Family | From An Address Given At Nazareth By Pope Paul VI | This Humble And Sublime School Of Nazareth
‘This humble and sublime school of Nazareth.’
In this address, Pope Paul VI reflects on Nazareth as the ordinary setting in which the Son of God lived most of his earthly life. Nazareth is presented not primarily as a place of historical interest, but as a school in which the Gospel is learned.
The first emphasis is on attention. To understand Christ, one must look, listen and meditate. Paul VI stresses that Jesus revealed himself not only through public teaching, but through the ordinary circumstances of daily life. Place, time, language, customs and work all form part of this revelation. The life of Jesus as a whole must be taken into account, not only particular events.
Nazareth also teaches a method for discipleship. Paul VI notes the need for a spiritual rule of life. Following Christ requires discipline, reflection and continuity. The hidden years of Jesus show that growth in wisdom is gradual and grounded in daily faithfulness.
A first concrete lesson drawn from Nazareth is silence. Silence is described as necessary for recollection, prayer and discernment. In contrast to constant noise and distraction, silence allows the person to listen inwardly and to receive God’s action. Prayer, study and meditation belong to this interior life, much of which remains unseen.
The second lesson concerns family life. Nazareth reveals the family as a place of love, formation and stability. Paul VI underlines the dignity of family life and its importance for society. What is learned in the home is described as gentle and irreplaceable.
The third lesson is work. Jesus is recalled as the son of a carpenter. Human work is presented as dignified and necessary, but not absolute. Its value is not only economic, but personal and social. Work serves the human person and contributes to justice when it respects this order. Christ, who shared in human labour, is held up as a model for all workers.
Throughout the address, Nazareth remains a place of simplicity. Its significance lies not in outward achievement, but in fidelity to ordinary responsibilities lived before God.
The Holy Family | From An Address Given At Nazareth By Pope Paul VI | This Humble And Sublime School Of Nazareth
The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus – the school of the Gospel.
The first lesson we learn here is to look, to listen, to meditate and penetrate the meaning – at once so deep and so mysterious – of this very simple, very humble and very beautiful manifestation of the Son of God. Perhaps we learn, even imperceptibly, the lesson of imitation.
Here we learn the method which will permit us to understand who Christ is. Here above all is made clear the importance of taking into account the general picture of his life among us, with its varied background of place, of time, of customs, of language, of religious practices – in fact, everything Jesus made use of to reveal himself to the world. Here everything is eloquent, all has a meaning.
Here, in this school, one learns why it is necessary to have a spiritual rule of life, if one wishes to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become a disciple of Christ.
How gladly would I become a child again, and go to school once more in this humble and sublime school of Nazareth: close to Mary, I wish I could make a fresh start at learning the true science of life and the higher wisdom of divine truths.
But I am only a passing pilgrim. I must renounce this desire to pursue in this home my still incomplete education in the understanding of the Gospel. I will not go on my way however without having gathered – hurriedly, it is true, and as if wanting to escape notice – some brief lessons from Nazareth.
First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us, besieged as we are by so many uplifted voices, the general noise and uproar, in our seething and over-sensitized modern life.
May the silence of Nazareth teach us recollection, inwardness, the disposition to listen to good inspirations and the teachings of true masters. May it teach us the need for and the value of preparation, of study, of meditation, of personal inner life, of the prayer which God alone sees in secret.
Next, there is a lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character. Let us learn from Nazareth that the formation received at home is gentle and irreplaceable. Let us learn the prime importance of the role of the family in the social order.
Finally, there is a lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the ‘Carpenter’s Son’, in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law of human work; here I would restore the awareness of the nobility of work; and reaffirm that work cannot be an end in itself, but that its freedom and its excellence derive, over and above its economic worth, from the value of those for whose sake it is undertaken. And here at Nazareth, to conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern, their brother who is God. He is the prophet of all their just causes, Christ our Lord.
Christian Prayer With Jesus
Lord Jesus Christ,
you lived for many years in the hidden life of Nazareth.
Teach us to seek you in silence,
to listen attentively,
and to shape our lives according to the Gospel.
Strengthen our families in love and faithfulness.
Give dignity and purpose to our work,
so that it may serve others and honour you.
May we learn, in ordinary circumstances,
to follow you with patience and trust.
Amen
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Nazareth | The town in Galilee where Jesus lived with Mary and Joseph and grew to adulthood.
Hidden life | The long period of Jesus’ life before his public ministry, marked by family life and work.
Rule of life | A pattern of prayer and practice that supports faithful Christian living.
Silence | An interior and exterior stillness that allows for prayer, reflection and attentiveness to God.
Family life | The shared life of love, responsibility and formation within the household.
Human work | Labour undertaken by people for the good of themselves and others, sharing in God’s creative action.
Discipleship | The lifelong following of Christ in faith, conduct and obedience.
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