Last Sunday, the Church celebrated the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The readings evidently manifest what the Bible means by a “family”.

In the second reading, taken from the Letter to the Colossians, St Paul exhorts “wives [to] be subject to [their] husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Col. 3:18), whereas in the following verse, the Apostle to the Gentiles urges husbands to “love [their] wives, and do not be harsh with them” (Col. 3:19). Thus, from these successive lines in the Pauline corpus, it is crystal clear that, for the Bible, the couple intended by God should be founded on a committed relationship between a man and a woman.

The Church, which serves the Word of God by proclaiming it as it is, does not have the right to twist, colour or ignore it. On the contrary, as the mystical Body of Christ, intimately united with her divine spouse in thought, word and deed, the Church has the serious responsibility for faithfully transmitting God’s message, as revealed in the sacred scriptures. It is precisely in this perspective that Bishop Scicluna’s homily on Christmas should be seen. As one of the Church’s pastors in our islands, Bishop Scicluna rightly said that the family has to be built around a man and a woman.

“Around the manger of baby Jesus there are also a woman and a man: the mother who gave him birth and her husband, Joseph, whom God chose to rear, along with the mother, the child of Mary. God, who generated his son as a human being without the participation of a man, did not want his son as man to be reared without the participation of a man. The silent and essential mission of Joseph was to ensure that the boy Jesus, in his upbringing to manhood, was not deprived of a father’s affection and example. In the rearing of his beloved son, God himself ordained and chose to be subjected to the wisdom and law of creation according to which a baby should be reared by a mother and father, by a couple made of a man and a woman and not by a couple made of a woman and woman or of a man and a man”.

In boldly preaching these words, Bishop Scicluna was simply reiterating the Biblical teaching found in the first reading of last Sunday’s Mass, namely in the Book of Ben Sirach. “God sets a father in honour over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.

“Whoever honours his father atones for his sins, and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother. Whoever honours his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard. Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother. My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life; kindness to a father will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins – a house raised in justice to you” (Sir 3:2-6, 12-14).

In a homily during the Episcopal ordination of Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich, the newly appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana and Archbishop Giampiero Gloder, newly appointed Apostolic Nuncio and President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the current popular Pontiff, Pope Francis, openly preached that “it is for the bishop to... proclaim the word at all times, whether opportune or inopportune, admonish, reprimand, exhort with all magnanimity and doctrine”.

So who can blame Bishop Scicluna for proclaiming God’s word, which should enlighten the current debate on the future of our families in Malta? Let us make his following bold appeal ours too! “May the sweet baby of Bethlehem grant us the grace that those who in our country have the power to build or to destroy, may have wisdom to build and not to destroy the family based on the lasting bond between one man and one woman”.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap