by Tarcisio Stramare

«Be children of your Father who is in heaven… Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect». «Be children of your Father who is in heaven… Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect» (Mt 5,45.48). Jesus' need for his disciples is revealed here as extreme, corresponding, on the other hand, to the dignity of "sons".
Dignity that he with his Incarnation conferred on all humanity. Shouldn't the principle "nobility obliges" apply to God who gave us this gift? It follows that behavior similar to that, although "correct", of publicans and pagans does not correspond to the new situation of the "children of the heavenly Father".    
Here then is the need for "education" to this new reality, through those ordinary means already prepared by nature, first of which, for man, the family. In the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris custos, John Paul II, very sensitive to the theme of the family, does not fail to consider "the sustenance and education of Jesus in Nazareth": "The growth of Jesus 'in wisdom, in age and in grace' (Lk 2,52) took place within the Holy Family under the eyes of Joseph, who had the high task of 'raising', that is, feeding, clothing and instructing Jesus in the Law and in a profession, in accordance with the duties assigned to the father” (n.16).

He follows Joseph's task with the attitude of Jesus: "For his part, Jesus 'submitted to them' (Lk 2,51), reciprocating the attentions of his 'parents' with respect". The importance of this mutual relationship is demonstrated, finally, by its salvific value: "In this way Jesus wanted to sanctify the duties of family and work, which he performed alongside Joseph".
We all know the importance acquired for every man by his point of entry into life, concretely constituted by the time in which he lives, the place or environment in which he spends his existence, above all by the people who are in contact with him in the family and in work. Paul VI saw the long community of life he had with Saint Joseph reflected in Jesus' attitudes so much that he was able to affirm that "Saint Joseph is the type of the gospel that Jesus, after leaving the small workshop of Nazareth and beginning his mission as a prophet and as a master, will announce as a program for the redemption of humanity” (March 19, 1969). This means that the "new" man, as understood by Jesus, had been formed in his human mind in the many years spent at Joseph's side, according to that concrete model that he had always had before him. The continued presence of this honest, serious and virtuous man could not fail to have a positive influence on Jesus - child, adolescent, young man and adult -, fixing in his eyes the image of that humanity that lives "according to God". John Paul II strongly underlines this aspect: “Certainly in the Holy Family of Nazareth there was not only work, but there was also a school, the first school and the most important of all schools. In schools you learn many things, different and important sciences. But in the family you learn humanity, you learn to be a man. In this type of teaching the family is irreplaceable. Saint Joseph was certainly 'director' of this school of humanity. He was privileged because he was able to teach humanity to the Son of God” (18 January 1981). In fact, the family is the place where the "transfer of values" takes place: "Joseph of Nazareth and Jesus of Nazareth, here they are together. It is a symbol, a symbolic and profound thing that touches all generations. It is almost the transfer of contents, of values, especially human, that is done between fathers and sons: Joseph and Jesus. This is a chain to preserve, to deepen and to always enrich our humanity. The Nazarene reality – Joseph, Mary and Jesus – is a profoundly human reality: the family. Every family is the place where the human and Christian tradition is transferred, of everything that is true, of everything that is good, that is beautiful and so we know that Jesus grew up as a child, as a young man, he grew up next to Joseph and naturally next to his mother... And here is Joseph next to Jesus, Jesus next to Joseph on the workbench. Jesus learned from Joseph, worked as a carpenter and learned to be a Jew, a son of the people among whom he came into this world” (March 19, 1993). The true humanity of Jesus had required the "ministry" of education, which he consequently accepted: "One might think that Jesus, possessing within himself the fullness of divinity, did not need educators. But the mystery of the incarnation reveals to us that the Son of God came into the world in a human condition completely similar to ours, except for sin (cf. Heb 4,15:XNUMX). As happens with every human being, the growth of Jesus, from childhood to adulthood (cf. Luke 2,40:XNUMX), needed the educational action of his parents. The Gospel of Luke, particularly attentive to the period of hidden life, narrates that Jesus in Nazareth was subjected to Joseph and Mary (cf. Luke 2,51:XNUMX). This dependence shows us Jesus' willingness to receive, open to the educational work of his Mother and Joseph, who carried out their task also by virtue of the docility he constantly displayed... Alongside the maternal presence of Mary, Jesus could count on the paternal figure of Joseph, a righteous man (cf. Mt 1,19), which ensured the necessary balance in educational action. Exercising the role of father, Joseph cooperated with his wife to make the house of Nazareth an environment conducive to the personal growth and maturation of the Savior of humanity. Then, by initiating him to the hard work of a carpenter, Joseph allowed Jesus to enter the world of work and social life. The few elements that the Gospel offers do not allow us to know and fully evaluate the modalities of Mary's pedagogical action towards her divine Son. It was certainly she, together with Joseph, who introduced Jesus into the rites and prescriptions of Moses, in the prayer to the God of the Covenant, through the use of the Psalms, in the history of the people of Israel centered on the exodus from Egypt.
Parents, in fact, are not only the principle of generation and existence, "but also of education and instruction", taking into account, as St. Thomas teaches, that "offspring is not called the good of marriage only in so far as it is generated through it, but insofar as it is welcomed and educated in marriage”. How important it is for the family to recover its identity to effectively exercise its role as a "school of humanity".