For the Feast of the Holy Family
From an address given at Nazareth by Pope Paul VI
The example 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.

📸 A look back on 2024 at Justice & Peace Scotland...

✨Our highlight of the year is of course "Hope For Peace For Gaza: A Conversation with Fr Gabriel Romanelli". Alongside SCIAF and the Archdiocese of Glasgow we were honoured to host Fr Gabriel in Scotland in April 2024. Thank you to all who joined us at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for the talk, at St Andrew's Cathedral for the mass, or who shared the joint declaration for peace issued by Archbishop Nolan and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to mark the occasion.

✝️In August we coordinated a Christian Peace Witness vigil at Faslane Nuclear base where Archbishop Nolan was joined by leaders from the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church to voice our joint opposition to the existence of nuclear weapons. The event coincided with the commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings - the 80th anniversary of which we will mark in 2025.

💰Our ongoing Fair Work in Social Care campaign in collaboration with the Church of Scotland took us to Holyrood in September, where we met with Michael Matheson MSP and put forward our case for better pay and conditions in the social care sector.

🚌Alongside Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees we have lobbied the Scottish Government throughout the year to uphold their commitment to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum. A highlight of this campaign was our joint parliamentary briefing sent to MSPs ahead of a debate on the budget in December, from which our reminder that the holy family were once refugees was directly referenced during the debate by seven MSPs in the Chamber.

🪧We have been present at many peaceful demonstrations in 2024 including those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, an interfaith vigil at the Scottish Parliament during COP29, and various solidarity gatherings outside Dungavel Detention Centre.

⛪And finally we have travelled to numerous schools and parishes across the country to talk with young people and parishioners about Catholic Social Teaching, human dignity, and our mission to build up God's kingdom of love, justice, and peace by putting the principles of CST into action.

🕊️"If you want peace, work for justice." - Pope Paul VI