Food for Thought

Jan 30, 2015

In a 2013 speech to 100,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square for a celebration of family life, Pope Francis drew the audience’s attention to a painting depicting Jesus’ presentation in the temple.

“It is a beautiful and meaningful picture,” Pope Francis said. “Let us contemplate it and let it help us. Like all of you, the persons depicted in this scene have a journey to make: Mary and Joseph have travelled as pilgrims to Jerusalem in obedience to the law of the Lord; the aged Simeon and the elderly prophetess Anna have come to the temple led by the Holy Spirit.

“In this scene, three generations come together, the interweaving of three generations,” the Pope said. The elderly Simeon and Anna “represent faith as memory,” he said.

Pope Francis added, “Mary and Joseph are the family, sanctified by the presence of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all God’s promises.

“Like the Holy Family of Nazareth, every family is part of the history of a people; it cannot exist without the generations who have gone before it. Therefore, today we have grandparents and children. The children learn from their grandparents, from the previous generation.”