As we come to the end of the calendar year, during this Christmas season, the Church invites us to contemplate the Holy Family as a model and inspiration for all Christians throughout the world, but for us, members of the Family of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, it is an even more significant moment.
Our Founder invited each one of us to ‘go to Nazareth and contemplate,’ but this call must continue to resonate in each of our hearts every day, not simply to move us with the images that we can contemplate at this time in the nativity scenes that fill our homes, or to let ourselves be dazzled by the lights that flood the streets of our cities. Our Charism invites us to go further, to turn our hearts to Nazareth and discover and be inspired by the ordinary life of Jesus' family, a family which lived and breathed God Alone in all things, at all times.
In this spirit, during this Christmas season, this family time, it may be a good opportunity to pause, to look back, to see how our life has unfolded in this year that is coming to an end, to discover what we have experienced, the events that have marked our path, those that have inspired us to go out of ourselves, and how God has been present in every moment, in joy and in pain. And in this reflection, we can also be aware of how the values and attitudes of the family of Nazareth have inspired us on our journey and are the driving force that impels us to seek in our relationships and in our ways of doing things that spirit of God Alone in all things, like Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
So let us move forward with renewed vigour, walking alongside Jesus, Mary and Joseph, discovering the authenticity of their lives, drawing inspiration from the attitudes and values of the family of Nazareth, to continue being witnesses to the presence of God in our world.
Luis Jesús García-Lomas
Lay Associate, Spain