Families fostering Gospel values provide hope in dark world, pope says

"In our families, we should cherish the values of the Gospel: prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments -- especially confession and Communion -- healthy affections, sincere dialogue, fidelity and the simple and beautiful concreteness of everyday words and gestures," he said.

"This will make them a light of hope for the places in which we live; a school of love and an instrument of salvation in God's hands," he said before leading the Angelus prayer with people gathered in St. Peter's Square Dec. 28.

Marking the feast of the Holy Family, Pope Leo reflected on Jesus, Mary and Joseph and their "moment of trial" when "the bright image of Christmas is suddenly almost eclipsed by the disturbing shadow of a deadly threat, which has its origin in the troubled life of Herod."

Herod, he said, is "a cruel and bloodthirsty man, who is feared for his brutality, but precisely for this reason he is deeply lonely and gripped with the fear of being deposed."

"When he learns from the Magi that the 'king of the Jews' has been born, feeling this to be a threat to his power, he decrees that all children of the same age as Jesus should be killed," the pope said.

Because Herod is "blinded by the fear of losing his throne, riches and privileges," he cannot see that "God is performing the greatest miracle in history" with the birth of the infant Jesus, "in which all the ancient promises of salvation are fulfilled," Pope Leo said.

"In the despotic and greedy world represented by the tyrant, it is the birthplace and cradle of the only possible answer of salvation, that of God who, in total gratuitousness, gives himself to men without reserve and without pretension," he said.

"It is precisely this hardness of heart, however, that further highlights the value of the presence and mission of the Holy Family," he added.

St. Joseph listens to God's message and flees with his family to Egypt to keep them safe. It is there, in refuge, the pope said, that "the flame of domestic love, to which the Lord has entrusted his presence in the world, grows and gains strength in order to bring light to the whole world."

Pope Leo asked the faithful to "contemplate this mystery with wonder and gratitude," and to "think of our families and the light they can bring to the society in which we live."

"Unfortunately, the world always has its 'Herods,' its myths of success at any cost, of unscrupulous power, of empty and superficial well-being, and it often pays the price in the form of loneliness, despair, divisions and conflicts," the pope said.

"Let us not allow these mirages to suffocate the flame of love in Christian families. On the contrary, in our families, we should cherish the values of the Gospel," he said.

He prayed that, through the intercession of Mary and Joseph, God might "bless our families and all families throughout the world, so that by following the model of his Son made man, they may be for all an efficacious sign of his presence and his endless charity."

After the Angelus, Pope Leo again called for continued prayers for peace.

"Today, in particular, let us pray for families suffering because of war, especially for children, the elderly and the most vulnerable. Let us entrust ourselves together to the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth," he said.