Pope Benedict XVI travelled by helicopter to Nazareth, town of the Annunciation and of the Holy Family, which is located some 110 kilometres from Jerusalem.
In his homily, the Holy Father affirmed that, following the example of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, "we come to appreciate even more fully the sacredness of the family, which in God's plan is based on the lifelong fidelity of a man and a woman consecrated by the marriage covenant and accepting of God's gift of new life.
"How much the men and women of our time need to re-appropriate this fundamental truth, which stands at the foundation of society, and how important is the witness of married couples for the formation of sound consciences and the building of a civilisation of love", he added.
"In the family each person, whether the smallest child or the oldest relative, is valued for himself or herself, and not seen simply as a means to some other end. Here we begin to glimpse something of the essential role of the family as the first building block of a well-ordered and welcoming society. We also come to appreciate, within the wider community, the duty of the State to support families in their mission of education, to protect the institution of the family and its inherent rights, and to ensure that all families can live and flourish in conditions of dignity".
Benedict XVI told the children present "to let the example of Jesus guide you, not only in showing respect for your parents, but also helping them to discover more fully the love which gives our lives their deepest meaning. In the Holy Family of Nazareth, it was Jesus who taught Mary and Joseph something of the greatness of the love of God".
Years ago when I saw the Haley's comet it dawned in me that this event is seen for the last time. Last week when the moon became closer after a period of 15 years I wondered if I would live to see it once again. It is the same as seeing our children growing amidst us as they mature with the constant dose of our belief and philosophies. This is what we live by in the process called ageing. We must gracefully accept and go day by day to live with our commitment of our belief. This deep routed spiritual faith should mould us to accept age as the maturing element in certifying us to reach our prime in life.
Often we find ourselves conscious of our appearances. Many tend to have all the beauty care to see that their youthful image is maintained. The women are too conscious as their social order of weakness tends to make them feel attractive. Men also in the years try to see that they want also an appearance of attractive elegance. Many spend money/hours to therapies including facial, dyeing, grooming and rejuvenation including many of the religious taking pains to trim, shape and dye to display a sense of youth with visible sagging skins. Is it that we are afraid to age? Why can’t we accept and move on to grow above such physical feature. Isn't wisdom coming within us with every grey hair or are we trying to hide? The answer being that though our body’s age it is the mind that should remain young. Didn't Jesus say: Unless you become like little children – innocent - you will not see the kingdom of heaven?
Moses went up into the mountains and returned with the greatest wisdom displaying the Ten Commandments. According to the bible he lost his youthfulness after being in front of the burning bush, returning as a changed wise man with long grey hair and beard. It was the first display of greatness of a person laced with spirituality, induced with wisdom.
What makes one to run away from such a situation? Isn't it the fear of death? Many times we tend to hide ourselves behind the mask of reality. To look at death in a different manner is to accept everyday as a day lesser. Live with great respect to the Creator make it different, accomplishing/learning something everyday to build us into a wiser person. As we see the sun rise and set it is also important to equate it to our lives, accepting every day been given to us as another life.
It is how we make use of the times of our lives, living every moment of it in good times and bad with good determination avoiding reasons for comparison.
Children should be taught to value time, to be accountable for usage of time in studies, sport and leisure. As they grow up, the management of time should be so disciplined that they should never regret having lost much of it for wasteful unproductive need nor laziness or excessive sleep. We need to use every moment of it to learn as much as possible of the miraculous reality of life, the wonders of the universe, the magic of sciences or the personality/history of humanity.
Somehow talents are born with such indulgences of interests sown into our personality. Many of us have so many unborn talents but we leave it to hibernate. Our minds should be woken up every moment with sharing in spreading good values of life. It structures our brain to have the feel good factors to have contention to bring about our happy state of mind leaving besides any guilt feeling of wasted time.
The best time for one to consolidate and establish their foundation of life in the years is from 23 to 45. Men should mainly take this as the best part of their life so that all strain and tensions can be absorbed by the youthful body. Working harder at these ages is important as much as financial management to steer the family they need to support. Proper discipline with the spouses can assure good happy living with contentment of their resources. Happiness comes with a ticker -- Live according to the situation, be cheerful, and think you are fortunate. Money alone will never buy happiness but love will. Time spend to overindulge in work should be restrained.
Growing older we could never take as much of the strain as we did years ago. It would be better to reduce strains on body and mind with this feeling of satisfaction of the life spend. By contributing our knowledge with faithful humility our expression of giving wisdom enlightens us. We had graduated in projecting life with different prospective achieving doctorates/masters in guiding younger lives. This could be the best feeling reassuring us having navigated to achieve our goals with the best approach. No negatives or foolishness would stand up unless it had taught a lesson to accept, learn and grow on, continuing with the duty given to us - OUR LIFE.
Cultivation of many such views could develop many of us to face life in our pursuit for happiness. Time never waits but we must never let it pass without making use of it every moment. Such treasures are the best memorable moments of our life as we sit down in our last chapters to rewind and play as many times to be satisfied to ourselves, to fulfil our dreams with ideology sown in from our understanding of Our Way of Life.
Jesus Christ came to us 2000 years ago to spread the message for us to cultivate within a moral, social code of life. The ultimate aim was for us to grow in the images of God, to respect and live happily. There was no mention of fear inducement, no mention of action taken but only the principle thought that one needs to be happy one has to do certain sacrifices but with humility, unselfishness and faith. Sadly we are moving away from what the practical expression of the designed Christian life. Our time seems wasted on building infrastructures, establishments, and petty politics rather than improving lives of our brethrens.
How much can we change? Who must take the initiative? Who must benefit?
All but for our struggle to have a Life and to be Happy in the second place.