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Bishop's Homily for the Solemnity of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

December 28, 2025

Asti, Italy: Marble relief of the Flight to Egypt in the church Santuario di Nostra Signora Porta Paradisi. (Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com)

[Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Honolulu (Diocesan Closing of the Jubilee Year)]

There is always something romantic about hope!

Hope is not something that is fulfilled or certain. It is an act of faith that God will make the future bright according to his own light. We may not see it immediately, but we are romantic enough – in love enough, if you will – to trust in what we do not yet see.

This Jubilee Year, whose them is “Pilgrims of Hope,” is officially being closed today in dioceses across the world, even though it will be completely closed in Rome on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, which is celebrated there on January 6. We might ask if we have become more hopeful this year, or if we have given in to cynicism that sees only the bleakness of the present reality.

As we reflect on the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we see that they were people of great hope, even though they had to suffer much in a life that was not always in accord with their own plans.  We know of the first tension between Joseph and Mary, when Joseph learned that his betrothed wife was with child and that it was not his child. He decided to divorce her quietly, but he was so in love with God that he believed the incredible message in his dream that this child was conceived in the womb of a virgin and that he was the child of God himself. We think of the day Mary was about to deliver her child, and their plans were changed when the Roman Governor ordered that everyone return to his ancestral town for a census. The journey to Bethlehem – close to 100 miles -- must have been arduous in itself, especially in the depth of winter. And when they arrived, they expected to welcome their newborn in the comfort of an inn, but there was only a stable available for them. When they presented Jesus in the Temple, there is great joy, but also a troubling prophecy about rejection and heart-piercing swords. Just when they were enjoying the incomparable love for their newborn, they receive word that King Herod is jealously seeking the child’s life, and they are forced to become immigrants in a foreign country that was not known for its openness to the faith of the Israelites. Many years later, when they went on pilgrimage from Nazareth to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph were sick with worry when they could not find young Jesus for three days. In all of these trials – and many more that would follow – Mary pondered deeply in her heart. But they never lost hope, romantically, if not naively, putting their trust in God.

As we look back on this past Jubilee Year, we can think of many blessings, especially those that have come to us through our families. Yet we can also think of many challenges that have beset so many of our families: worrying about how they would make ends meet, or even losing their jobs or homes because of a challenging economy; witnessing the deterioration of a loved one in age or sickness; being hunted down as illegal immigrants; experiencing wrenching conflicts or even infidelities. Wars, infighting, suicides, addictions, and hatreds have, unfortunately, not disappeared during this Jubilee Year. But we pray that we will have learned from the Holy Family that, when we put our trust in God, there is always hope for peace, for reconciliation, and for justice. It is our romantic love of God – or, even more important, God’s romantic love for us! – that keeps us away from cynicism as we continue on our pilgrimage of hope.

Although Christmas is a season that touches our hearts – and God knows we need this very romantic season – it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that is at the heart of our hope. How can those who believe in One who truly died but now lives forever not be people of great hope?

It is now our task to be like Mary and Joseph, nurturing the life of Jesus within and among us – but also engaging with Jesus in the sorrows and challenges of life. In a world that is often closed in upon itself with cynicism, we remain always pilgrims of hope, taking Jesus wherever he is needed to sow the seeds of hope throughout the world.