PRIEST: As we draw near the end of this year we gather as a family of families … around the simplicity and poverty, the love and the faith of the Holy Family of Bethlehem and Nazareth. Theirs was not a trouble-free family life: homeless, fleeing for their lives into exile because of the fears of the powerful, destined to be refugees for years. Yet we celebrate the wonder of God’s great confidence in us and in our families, entrusting His own Son to a family like ours, for Jesus to grow and develop into the power of love that He became. Let us rededicate ourselves to the task of love, recognising that our failures are forgiven…
READER: The family is the school of love:
that we may replace harshness with forgiveness,
criticism with encouragement,
deafness with sensitive listening
LORD HAVE MERCY
The family is called to be a healing community:
that we may care rather than judge, accept rather than
reject,
cherish rather than take for granted
CHRIST HAVE MERCY
The family is called to be a place of prayer:
that Christ may be the centre of our homes,
not on the edge,
that parents may be the first and best of teachers
of their children in the ways of faith,
that love may set all free to search and develop,
not criticism to stifle and limit
LORD HAVE MERCY
PRIEST: May our God who is family, Father, Son and Spirit,
bring mercy to our failures, fire to our love grown cold,
healing peace to our hurting hearts,
and renewed hope to the challenge of love and growth
bringing us all to everlasting life…
AMEN!