“Marveling always brings us to tenderness,” the pope said, noting that “tenderness is beautiful in marriage.”
Francis also recommended marveling at the miracle of life by taking time to play with children. In his customary off-the-cuff fashion, he shared that, on a phone call yesterday, he had asked a friend where she was. She told him she was at the park, on a walk with her children.
“This is good parenting,” the pope said.
Pope Francis also said that instead of shutting grandparents out of our lives, families should marvel at their wisdom by listening to their stories.
“Grandparents bring us back to what is essential,” Francis said.
Concluding his remarks on the Holy Family and the importance of marveling, Pope Francis said each person should marvel “at our own story of love,” paying attention to how God has walked with us, even in the midst of negative aspects. The pope asked Mary, queen of the family, to “help us marvel every day at the good, and to know how to teach others the beauty of marveling.”
Following his recitation of the Angelus prayer, the pope expressed his closeness to people in the Nigerian state of Plateau, where bandits killed over 140 people during attacks on Christmas Eve, and also to those in Liberia, where a tanker truck explosion killed 40 on Dec. 27. Pope Francis also asked for continued prayers for those suffering due to war in Ukraine, Palestine and Israel, and Sudan, as well as the Rohingya people in Indonesia.
Connecting with his reflection on the Gospel, the pope also underscored that the family is the basic cell of society, which “always needs to be defended and sustained, always!”
In closing, Pope Francis wished those gathered a serene end of the year and expressed his eagerness to see them again in 2024.
Jonathan Liedl is senior editor for the National Catholic Register. His background includes state Catholic conference work, three years of seminary formation, and tutoring at a university Christian study center. Liedl holds a B.A. in Political Science and Arabic Studies (Univ. of Notre Dame), an M.A. in Catholic Studies (Univ. of St. Thomas), and is currently completing an M.A. in Theology at the Saint Paul Seminary.
