Summary of the Pastoral Letter for the Feast of the Holy Family (2025) by Bishop Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.

The pastoral letter for the Feast of the Holy Family reflects on the deep connection between Christmas, family life, and hope, especially within the context of a troubled world. Celebrated on the first Sunday after Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family stands at the heart of the Christmas season. This year it also marks the solemn closing of the Holy Year of Jubilee, which began on the same feast in 2024 and invited all the faithful to become “Pilgrims of Hope.”

Bishop Marcus notes that hope has been urgently needed during the Jubilee year, as many individuals and families across the world continue to suffer due to war, violence, hatred, political oppression, social unrest, and international tensions. Against this backdrop, the light and hope brought into the world by the birth of Christ remain as necessary today as they were two thousand years ago.

The letter reflects on two contrasting Gospel images of the Holy Family. First is the familiar and tender scene of Bethlehem, where the shepherds adore the newborn Christ. The second, presented in the Gospel for the Feast, is far more troubling: the Holy Family fleeing into exile in Egypt. This image highlights the vulnerability and fear experienced by Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Egypt, a place associated with slavery and suffering for the Jewish people, becomes a refuge, revealing a profound mystery. Bishop Marcus explains that even in terrifying circumstances, families can endure and find hope when they remain united in faith and trust in God.

The Holy Family is presented as unique in human history: the Son of God is born of the Virgin Mary and entrusted to Joseph’s loving and protective care. Through their obedience to God’s will, Jesus is nurtured and prepared for His mission. Quoting Pope St Paul VI, the letter describes the Holy Family of Nazareth as a “school” where believers learn the meaning of life, the way to understand Christ, and the true nature of family love. This school teaches harmony, simplicity, beauty, and the sacred and inviolable character of family life, as well as its essential role in society.

The Church, the Bishop explains, holds up the Holy Family as a model for all families, affirming that the family is the primary and vital cell of society, entrusted with its mission by God Himself. While acknowledging that not all families resemble the Holy Family in outward form, the letter emphasizes that every loving family shares in this vocation when its members support one another, carry each other’s burdens, and share joys and hopes together. Drawing from St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, the Bishop highlights virtues such as compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love, which bind families together in peace.

Finally, the letter reminds us that God chose the bonds of family as the means through which salvation entered the world. As the Jubilee Year concludes, Bishop Marcus calls on the faithful to pray for all families, asking God to bless them and to grant the grace needed to continue life’s pilgrimage in the light and hope given through Jesus Christ.