- "I would like to return today to begin precisely from the Synod Assembly of the past month of October, which had this theme: 'The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of [the new] evangelization' ....often the vision of the media was somewhat in the style of sports events, or political coverage....No intervention called into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of Marriage, namely: indissolubility, unity, fidelity and openness to life (cf. Second Ecumenical Vatican Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, n. 48; Code of Canon Law, 1055-1056)....Everything happened 'cum Petro and sub Petro', that is to say, in the presence of the Pope, who is the guarantor for everyone of freedom and trust, and who guarantees orthodoxy. And at the end, through my intervention, I gave a concise summary of the Synod experience. Thus, the three official documents that came out of the Synod are: the Final Message, the Final Report, and the Final Address of the Holy Father. There are no others" (12/10/14 General Audience).
- "The Synod of Bishops on the Family, recently celebrated, was the first stage of a journey, which will conclude next October with the celebration of another Assembly on the theme: 'The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and [Contemporary] World'. The prayer and reflection which must accompany this journey is required of all the People of God. I would also like the customary meditations of the Wednesday Audiences to be included in this common journey. I have therefore decided to reflect with you, this year, precisely on the family, on this great gift that the Lord has made to the world from the very beginning, when he entrusted Adam and Eve with the mission to multiply and fill the earth (cf. Gen 1:28); that gift that Jesus confirmed and sealed in his Gospel. The nearness of Christmas casts a great light on this mystery. The Incarnation of the Son of God opens a new beginning in the universal history of man and woman. And this new beginning happens within a family, in Nazareth. Jesus was born in a family....God chose to come into the world in a human family, which He himself formed.... Jesus’ path was in that family....It is certainly not difficult to imagine how much mothers could learn from Mary’s care for that Son! And how much fathers could glean from the example of Joseph, a righteous man, who dedicated his life to supporting and protecting the Child and his wife — his family — in difficult times. Not to mention how much children could be encouraged by the adolescent Jesus to understand the necessity and beauty of cultivating their most profound vocation and of dreaming great dreams!....Each Christian family can first of all — as Mary and Joseph did — welcome Jesus, listen to Him, speak with Him, guard Him, protect Him, grow with Him; and in this way improve the world. Let us make room in our heart and in our day for the Lord. As Mary and Joseph also did, and it was not easy....The family of Nazareth urges us to rediscover the vocation and mission of the family, of every family. And, what happened in those 30 years in Nazareth, can thus happen to us too: in seeking to make love and not hate normal, making mutual help commonplace, not indifference or enmity. It is no coincidence, then, that 'Nazareth' means 'She who keeps', as Mary, who — as the Gospel states — 'kept all these things in her heart' (cf. Lk 2:19, 51). Since then, each time there is a family that keeps this mystery, even if it were on the periphery of the world, the mystery of the Son of God, the mystery of Jesus who comes to save us, the mystery is at work. He comes to save the world. And this is the great mission of the family: to make room for Jesus who is coming, to welcome Jesus in the family, in each member: children, husband, wife, grandparents.... Jesus is there. Welcome him there, in order that He grow spiritually in the family" (12/17/14 General Audience: The Family -1: Nazareth).
- "Today we continue with catecheses on the Church and we will reflect on Mother Church. The Church is mother. Our Holy Mother Church. In these days the Church’s liturgy sets before our eyes the icon of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. The first day of the year is the Feast of the Mother of God, followed by the Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the Magi....It is the Mother who, after giving birth to him, presents the Son to the world. She gives us Jesus, she shows us Jesus, she lets us see Jesus....Every human person owes his or her life to a mother, and almost always owes much of what follows in life, both human and spiritual formation, to her. Yet, despite being highly lauded from a symbolic point of view — many poems, many beautiful things said poetically of her — the mother is rarely listened to or helped in daily life, rarely considered central to society in her role....It also happens that in Christian communities the mother is not always held in the right regard, she is barely heard. Yet the centre of the life of the Church is the Mother of Jesus....Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centred individualism....We are not orphans, we have a mother! Our Lady, mother Church, is our mom. We are not orphans, we are children of the Church, we are children of Our Lady, and we are children of our mothers" (1/7/15 General Audience: The family -2. The mother).
- "Today we shall take the word 'father' as our guide. It is a term dearer than any other to us Christians because it is the name by which Jesus taught us to call God: father....The blessed mystery of God’s intimacy, Father, Son and Spirit revealed by Jesus, is the heart of our Christian faith....one has reached the point of claiming that our society is a 'society without fathers'. In other words, particularly in Western culture, the father figure would be symbolically absent, paled, removed. At first, this was perceived as a liberation....In our day, the problem no longer seems to be the invasive presence of the father so much as his absence, his inaction....the absent father figure in the life of little ones and young people causes gaps and wounds that may even be very serious. And, in effect, delinquency among children and adolescents can be largely attributed to this lack, to the shortage of examples and authoritative guidance in their everyday life, a shortage of closeness, a shortage of love from the father....It’s true that you have to be a 'companion' to your child, but without forgetting that you are the father! If you behave only as a peer to your child, it will do him/her no good. And we also see this problem in the civil community. The civil community with its institutions, has a certain — let’s call it paternal — responsibility towards young people, a responsibility that at times is neglected or poorly exercised. It too often leaves them orphaned and does not offer them a true perspective. Young people are thus deprived of safe paths to follow, of teachers to trust in, of ideals to warm their hearts, of values and of hopes to sustain them daily. They become filled perhaps with idols but their hearts are robbed; they are obliged to dream of amusement and pleasure but they are not given work; they become deluded by the god of money, and they are denied true wealth....next Wednesday I am going to continue this catechesis by highlighting the beauty of fatherhood. That is why I chose to start from the darkness, in order to reach the light." (1/28/15 General Audience: The family -3. The father (first part)).
- "Last time I spoke about the danger of 'absent; fathers, today I would like to look instead at the positive aspect. Even St Joseph was tempted to leave Mary, when he discovered that she was pregnant; but the Angel of the Lord intervened and revealed to him God’s plan and his mission as foster father; and Joseph, a just man, 'took his wife' (Mt 1:24) and became the father of the family of Nazareth. Every family needs a father. Today we shall reflect on the value of his role, and I would like to begin with a few expressions that we find in the Book of Proverbs....Nothing could better express the pride and emotion a father feels when he understands that he has handed down to his child what really matters in life, that is, a wise heart....The first need, then, is precisely this: that a father be present in the family. That he be close to his wife....And that he be close to his children as they grow....a father who is always present. To say 'present' is not to say 'controlling'! Fathers who are too controlling cancel out their children, they don't let them develop. The Gospel speaks to us about the exemplarity of the Father who is in Heaven — who alone, Jesus says, can be truly called the 'good Father' (cf. Mk 10:18). Everyone knows that extraordinary parable of the 'prodigal son', or better yet of the 'merciful father', which we find in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 15 (cf. 15:11-32). What dignity and what tenderness there is in the expectation of that father, who stands at the door of the house waiting for his son to return! Fathers must be patient. Often there is nothing else to do but wait; pray and wait with patience, gentleness, magnanimity and mercy. A good father knows how to wait and knows how to forgive from the depths of his heart. Certainly, he also knows how to correct with firmness: he is not a weak father, submissive and sentimental. The father who knows how to correct without humiliating is the one who knows how to protect without sparing himself....If, then, there is someone who can fully explain the prayer of the 'Our Father', taught by Jesus, it is the one who lives out paternity in the first person. Without the grace that comes from the Father who is in Heaven, fathers loose courage, and abandon camp. But children need to find a father waiting for them when they come home after failing. They will do everything not to admit it, not to show it, but they need it; and not to find it opens wounds in them that are difficult to heal. The Church, our mother, is committed to supporting with all her strength the good and generous presence of fathers in families, for they are the irreplaceable guardians and mediators of faith in goodness, of faith in justice and in God’s protection, like St Joseph" (2/4/15 General Audience: The family - 3. The father (second part)).
- "in this catechesis on the family I would like to talk about the child, or even better, about children.... Children are the joy of the family and of society....Children are a gift, they are a gift: understood? Children are a gift....Let us consider the many societies we know here in Europe: they are depressed societies, because they do not want children, they are not having children, the birth rate does not reach one percent. Why? Let each of us consider and respond. If a family with many children is looked upon as a weight, something is wrong! The child’s generation must be responsible, as the Encyclical Humanae Vitae of Blessed Pope Paul VI also teaches, but having many children cannot automatically be an irresponsible choice. Not to have children is a selfish choice. Life is rejuvenated and acquires energy by multiplying: it is enriched, not impoverished!....In the multiplication of generations there is a mystery of enrichment of the life of all, which comes from God Himself. We must rediscover it, challenging prejudice; and live it, in the faith, in perfect happiness. And I say to you: how beautiful it is when I pass in your midst and I see the dads and moms lift up their children to be blessed; this is an almost divine gesture" (2/11/15 General Audience: The family -4. The children).
- "In our continuing catechesis on the family, after having
considered the roles of the mother, the father, the children, today we
shall reflect on siblings. “Brother” and “sister” are words that
Christianity really loves. And, thanks to the family experience, they
are words that all cultures and all times comprehend.
The fraternal bond holds a special place in the history of the People of God, who received his revelation at the core of the human experience....brotherhood is beautiful! Jesus Christ also brought to its fullness this human experience of being brothers and sisters, embracing it in Trinitarian love and thereby empowering it to go well beyond the ties of kinship and enabling it to surmount every barrier of extraneousness. We know that when the fraternal relationship is destroyed, when the relationship between siblings is destroyed, the road is open to painful experiences of conflict, of betrayal, of hate. The biblical account of Cain and Abel is an example of this negative outcome. After the killing of Abel, God asks Cain: 'Where is Abel your brother?' (Gen 4:9a). It is a question that the Lord continues to repeat to every generation. And unfortunately, in every generation, Cain’s dramatic answer never fails to be repeated: 'I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?' (ibid., 4:9b). The rupture of the bond between siblings is a nasty, bad thing for humanity. In the family too, how many siblings quarrel over little things, or over an inheritance, and then they no longer speak to each other, they no longer greet one another. This is terrible!....In our prayers let us always pray for siblings who are at odds....Perhaps we are not always aware of it, but the family itself introduces fraternity into the world!....The blessing that God, in Jesus Christ, pours out on this bond of fraternity, expands in an unimaginable way. He renders it capable of overcoming all differences of nationality, language, culture and even religion....Familial fraternity shines in a special way when we see the care, the patience, the affection that envelop the weakest little brother or sister, sick or physically challenged. There are countless brothers and sisters who do this, throughout the world, and perhaps we do not appreciate their generosity enough....Having a brother, a sister, who loves you is a deep, precious, irreplaceable experience. Christian fraternity happens in the same way. The smallest, the weakest, the poorest soften us: they have the 'right' to take our heart and soul. Yes, they are our brothers and sisters and as such we must love and care for them. When this happens, when the poor are like family members, our own Christian fraternity comes to life again....Today more than ever it is necessary to place fraternity back at the centre of our technocratic and bureaucratic society: then even freedom and equality will find the correct balance" (2/18/15 General Audience: The family - 5. Siblings).
- "Today’s catechesis and next Wednesday’s will be dedicated to the elderly, who in the family are the grandparents, aunts and uncles. Today we will reflect on the current problematic condition of the elderly, and next time, that is, next Wednesday, on a more positive note, on the vocation pertaining to this stage of life. Thanks to the progress of medicine life-spans have increased: but society has not 'expanded' to life! The number of elderly has multiplied, but our societies are not organized well enough to make room for them, with proper respect and practical consideration for their frailty and their dignity....Benedict XVI, visiting a home for the elderly, used clear and prophetic words, saying in this way: 'The quality of a society, I mean of a civilization, is also judged by how it treats elderly people and by the place it gives them in community life' (12 November 2012)....a culture of profit insists on casting off the old like a 'weight'....we are accustomed to throwing people away. We want to remove our growing fear of weakness and vulnerability; but by doing so we increase in the elderly the anxiety of being poorly tolerated and neglected....I remember an elderly woman who said to me: 'Mmm, for Christmas'. It was August! Eight months without being visited by her children, abandoned for eight months! This is called mortal sin, understand?....We must reawaken the collective sense of gratitude, of appreciation, of hospitality, which makes the elder feel like a living part of his community....We are that elder: in the near or far future, but inevitably, even if we don’t think it. And if we don’t learn how to treat the elder better, that is how we will be treated....A society without proximity, where gratuity and affection without compensation— between strangers as well — is disappearing, is a perverse society. The Church, faithful to the Word of God, cannot tolerate such degeneration. A Christian community in which proximity and gratuity are no longer considered indispensable is a society which would lose her soul. Where there is no honour for elders, there is no future for the young" (3/4/15 General Audience: The family - 6. The elderly).
- "In today’s catechesis we continue our reflection on grandparents, considering the value and importance of their role in the family. I do so by placing myself in their shoes, because I too belong to this age group. When I was in the Philippines, the Filipino people greeted me saying 'Lolo Kiko' — meaning Grandpa Francis — 'Lolo Kiko', they said! The first important thing to stress: it is true that society tends to discard us, but the Lord definitely does not! The Lord never discards us. He calls us to follow Him in every age of life, and old age has a grace and a mission too, a true vocation from the Lord. Old age is a vocation. It is not yet time to 'pull in the oars'....I was really moved by the 'Day dedicated to the elderly' that we had here in St Peter’s Square last year, the Square was full. I listened to the stories of elderly people who devote themselves to others, and to stories of married couples, who said: 'We are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, we are celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary'. It is important to present this to young people who tire so easily....The Gospel comes to meet us with a really moving and encouraging image. It is the image of Simeon and Anna, whom are spoken of in the Gospel of Jesus’ childhood, composed by St Luke. There were certainly elderly.... This woman did not hide her age. The Gospel says that they awaited the coming of God every day, with great trust, for many years. They truly wanted to see Him that day, to grasp the signs, to understand the origin. By then, they were also perhaps more resigned to die first: that long wait, however, continued to occupy their whole life, having no commitments more important than this: to await the Lord and pray. So, when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to fulfil the provisions of the Law, Simeon and Anna moved quickly, inspired by the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 2:27). The burden of age and waiting disappeared in an instant. They recognized the Child, and discovered new strength, for a new task: to give thanks for and bear witness to this Sign from God....Dear grandparents, dear elderly, let us follow in the footsteps of these extraordinary elders! Let us too become like poets of prayer: let us develop a taste for finding our own words, let us once again grasp those which teach us the Word of God. The prayer of grandparents and of the elderly is a great gift for the Church! ....A great injection of wisdom for the whole of human society....Someone should also sing, for them too, sing of the signs of God, proclaim the signs of God, pray for them!....A great believer of the last century, of the Orthodox tradition, Olivier Clément, said: 'A civilization which has no place for prayer is a civilization in which old age has lost all meaning. And this is terrifying. For, above all, we need old people who pray; prayer is the purpose of old age'. We need old people who pray because this is the very purpose of old age....We are able to thank the Lord for the benefits received, and fill the emptiness of ingratitude that surrounds us. We are able to intercede for the expectations of younger generations and give dignity to the memory and sacrifices of past generations. We are able to remind ambitious young people that a life without love is a barren life. We are able say to young people who are afraid that anxiety about the future can be overcome. We are able to teach the young who are overly self-absorbed that there is more joy in giving than in receiving. Grandfathers and grandmothers form the enduring 'chorus' of a great spiritual sanctuary, where prayers of supplication and songs of praise sustain the community which toils and struggles in the field of life. Last, Prayer unceasingly purifies the heart. Praise and supplication to God prevents the heart from becoming hardened by resentment and selfishness. How awful is the cynicism of an elderly person who has lost the meaning of his testimony, who scorns the young and does not communicate the wisdom of life! How beautiful, however, is the encouragement an elderly person manages to pass on to a young person who is seeking the meaning of faith and of life! It is truly the mission of grandparents, the vocation of the elderly. The words of grandparents have special value for the young. And the young know it. I still carry with me, always, in my breviary, the words my grandmother consigned to me in writing on the day of my priestly ordination. I read them often and they do me good. How I would like a Church that challenges the throw-away culture with the overflowing joy of a new embrace between young and old! This is what I ask of the Lord today, this embrace!" (3/11/15 General Audience: The family - 7. The grandparents).
- "After reviewing the various members of the family — mother, father, children, siblings, grandparents —, I would like to conclude this first group of catecheses on the family by speaking about children. I will do so in two phases: today I will focus on the great gift that children are for humanity — it is true they are a great gift for humanity, but also really excluded because they are not even allowed to be born — and the next time I shall focus on several wounds that unfortunately harm childhood....there are so many gifts, so many riches that children bring to humanity....Jesus invited his disciples to 'become like children', because 'the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them' (cf. Mt 18:3; Mk 10:14). Dear brothers and sisters, children bring life, cheerfulness, hope, also troubles. But such is life. Certainly, they also bring worries and sometimes many problems; but better a society with these worries and these problems, than a sad, grey society because it is without children! When we see that the birth rate of a society is barely one percent, we can say that this society is sad, it is grey because it has no children" (3/18/15 General Audience: The family - 8. The children (I)).
- "In this series of Catecheses on the family, today we are completing our reflection on children, who are the most beautiful gift and blessing that the Creator has given to man and woman. We have already spoken about the great gift that children are. Today sadly we must speak about the 'passions' which many of them endure. From the first moments of their lives, many children are rejected, abandoned, and robbed of their childhood and future. There are those who dare to say, as if to justify themselves, that it was a mistake to bring these children into the world. This is shameful! Let’s not unload our faults onto the children, please! Children are never a 'mistake'....How can we make such solemn declarations on human rights and the rights of children, if we then punish children for the errors of adults?....Every child who is marginalized, abandoned, who lives on the street begging with every kind of trick, without schooling, without medical care, is a cry that rises up to God and denounces the system that we adults have set in place. And unfortunately these children are prey to criminals who exploit them for shameful trafficking or commerce, or train them for war and violence. But even in so-called wealthy countries many children live in dramatic situations that scar them deeply....none of these children are forgotten by the Father who is in heaven! Not one of their tears is lost! Neither is our responsibility lost, the social responsibility of people, of each one of us, and of countries. Once Jesus rebuked his disciples because they sent away the children whose parents brought them to Him to be blessed....Think what a society would be like if it decided, once and for all, to establish this principle: 'It’s true, we are not perfect and we make many mistakes. But when it comes to the children who come into the world, no sacrifice on the part of adults is too costly or too great, to ensure that no child believe he or she was a mistake, is worthless or is abandoned to a life of wounds and to the arrogance of men'. How beautiful a society like this would be! I say that for such a society, much could be forgiven, innumerable errors. Truly a great deal. The Lord judges our life according to what the angels of children tell him, angels who 'always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven' (cf. Mt 18:10). Let us always ask ourselves: what will the children’s guardian angels tell God about us?" (4/8/15 General Audience: The family - 9. The children (II)).
- "Today’s catechesis is dedicated to...the great gift that God made to humanity with the creation of man and woman and with the Sacrament of Marriage. This catechesis and the next are concerned with the difference and complementarity between man and woman, who are at the summit of the divine creation....I wonder...if the so-called gender theory is not also an expression of a frustration and of a resignation, which aims to cancel the sexual difference ....The removal of the difference, in fact, is the problem, not the solution...The matrimonial and family bond is something serious, and it is for everyone, not only for believers" (4/15/15 General Audience: The family - 10. Male and Female (I))
- "The social devaluation of the stable and generative alliance of man and woman is certainly a loss for all.... the Bible says a beautiful thing: man finds woman, they find one another, and man must leave something to find her fully. And for this, man will leave his father and his mother to go with her. It is beautiful! This means to begin a journey. Man is all for woman and woman is all for man. The care of this alliance of man and woman -- also if they are sinners and are wounded, confused or humiliated, mistrustful and uncertain -- is therefore for us believers a demanding and exciting vocation, in the present condition" (4/22/15 General Audience: The family - 11. Male and Female (II)).
- "The most persuasive testimony of the blessing of Christian marriage is the good life of Christian spouses and of the family. There is no better way to describe the beauty of the Sacrament! Marriage consecrated by God to safeguard that bond between man and woman that God has blessed since the creation of the world; and it is source of peace and of goodness for the whole of conjugal and family life" (4/29/15 General Audience: The family - 12. Marriage (I))
- "Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul affirms that the love between spouses is an image of the love between Christ and the Church – an unthinkable dignity!....we must ask ourselves seriously: do we ourselves, as believers and as pastors, fully accept this indissoluble bond of the history of Christ and of the Church with the history of marriage and of the human family?" (5/6/15 General Audience: The family - 13. Marriage (II))
- "Today’s catechesis is like an entrance door to a series of reflections on the life of the family, its real life, with its times and its circumstances. Written above this entrance door are three words, which I have already used several times....these words open the way to live well in the family. They are simple words, but not so simple to put into practice....And now I invite all to repeat these three words together: 'permission, thank you, pardon'....Now repeat all together the advice I have given: never end the day without making peace" (5/13/15 General Audience: The family - 14. The three expressions)
- "'Critical' intellectuals of all kinds have silenced parents in a thousand ways, to defend the young generations from harm -- real or imagined -- of family education.....It is time that fathers and mothers return from their exile – because they have exiled themselves from the education of their children --, and reassume fully their educational role" (5/20/15 General Audience The family - 15. Education).
- "The time of engagement can truly become a time of initiation, to what? To surprise! -- to the surprise of spiritual gifts with which the Lord, through the Church, enriches the horizon of the new family that prepares to live in His blessing" (5/27/15 General Audience: The family - 16. Engagement)
- "The lack or loss of work, or its strong precariousness, has serious implications on family life, severely testing relationships. The living conditions in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, with housing and transportation problems, as well as the reduction of social, health and educational services, causes further difficulty" (6/3/15 General Audience: The family - 17. Family and poverty)
- "The Christian community knows well that, in the trial of sickness, the family is not left alone. And we must say thank you to the Lord for those beautiful experiences of ecclesial fraternity that help families to go through the difficult moments of pain and suffering. This Christian closeness, of family to family, is a real treasure for the parish -- a treasure of wisdom that helps families in difficult moments and makes the Kingdom of God understood better than many discourses! They are caresses of God"(6/10/15 General Audience: The family - 18. Family and illness)
- "In the course of catecheses on the family, today we take direct inspiration from the episode narrated by the Evangelist Luke, which we have just heard (cf. Luke 7:11-15). It is a very moving scene, which shows us Jesus’ compassion for one who suffers -- in this case a widow who has lost her only son -- and it shows us also Jesus’ power over death. Death is an experience that concerns all families, without any exception. It is a part of life and yet, when it touches family affections, death never seems to appear to us as natural. For parents, to survive their children is something particularly excruciating, which contradicts the elementary nature of relations that give meaning to the family itself....And the child that remains alone, because of the loss of a parent, or of both, also suffers something similar.... In the People of God, with the grace of His compassion given in Jesus, many families demonstrate with facts that death does not have the last word. And this is a real act of faith....We can console one another in this faith, knowing that the Lord has conquered death once and for all....To be born and reborn in hope! – this is what faith gives us. However, I would like to underscore the last phrase of the Gospel we heard today. After Jesus brings this young man back to life, son of the mother who was a widow, the Gospel says: 'Jesus gave him to his mother.' And this is our hope! All our dear ones who have gone -- all -- the Lord will restore to us and we will meet together with them. And this hope does not disappoint. Let us remember well this gesture of Jesus! 'Jesus gave him to his mother.' Jesus will do this with all our dear ones in the family. This faith, this hope protects us from the nihilist view of death, as well as from the false consolations of the world, so that the Christian truth 'does not risk mixing itself with mythologies of various sorts,' yielding to rites of superstition, ancient or modern” (Benedict XVI, Angelus, November 2, 2008). Today it is necessary that Pastors and all Christians express more concretely the meaning of faith in dealing with the family’s experience of bereavement. The right to weep should not be denied. We must weep in mourning. Jesus also 'wept and was 'profoundly moved' by the grave mourning of a family he loved (John 11:33-37). Rather, we can draw from the simple and strong witness of so many families who, in the very hard passage of death, were also able to pick up the secure passage of the Lord, crucified and risen, with His irrevocable promise of the resurrection of the dead. The work of the love of God is stronger than the work of death. It is precisely of that love of which we must make ourselves active 'accomplices' with our faith! And let us remember that gesture of Jesus: 'And Jesus gave him to his mother.' He will do this with all our dear ones and with us when we shall meet, when death is definitively defeated in us -- and defeated by the cross of Jesus. Jesus will restore all families" (Pope Francis, 6/17/15 General Audience: The family -19.Death).
- "We are well aware that no moments are lacking in any family history in which the intimacy of dearest affections is offended by the behavior of its members....Do we feel the weight of the mountain that crushes the soul of a child, in families in which there is bad treatment and harm is done, to the point of breaking the bond of conjugal fidelity?....If we think of the harshness with which Jesus admonishes adults not to scandalize the little ones -- we heard the passage of the Gospel -- (cf. Matthew 18:6), we can also understand better his word on the grave responsibility to protect the conjugal bond that begins the human family (cf. Matthew 19:6-9). When man and woman have become one flesh, all the wounds and all the abandonments of the father and the mother affect the living flesh of the children....Let us ask the Lord for great faith, to look at reality with God’s gaze; and a great charity, to approach persons with his merciful heart" (6/24/15 General Audience: The family - 20. Wounds (I))
- "Saint John Paul II expressed himself thus in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (n. 84)
["Daily experience unfortunately shows that people who
have obtained a divorce usually intend to enter into a new union, obviously not
with a Catholic religious ceremony. Since this is an evil that, like the
others, is affecting more and more Catholics as well, the problem must be faced
with resolution and without delay. The Synod Fathers studied it expressly. The
Church, which was set up to lead to salvation all people and especially the
baptized, cannot abandon to their own devices those who have been previously
bound by sacramental marriage and who have attempted a second marriage. The
Church will therefore make untiring efforts to put at their disposal her means
of salvation.
Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are
obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations. There is in fact a
difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage
and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault
have destroyed a canonically valid marriage. Finally, there are those who have
entered into a second union for the sake of the children's upbringing, and who
are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and
irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.
Together with the Synod, I earnestly call upon pastors and
the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous
care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church,
for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life. They
should be encouraged to listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of
the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to
community efforts in favor of justice, to bring up their children in the
Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus
implore, day by day, God's grace. Let the Church pray for them, encourage them
and show herself a merciful mother, and thus sustain them in faith and hope.
However, the Church
reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting
to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are
unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of
life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church
which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is
another special pastoral reason: if these
people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and
confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.
Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance
which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who,
repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ,
are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in
contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that
when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man
and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they "take on
themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from
the acts proper to married couples."[180]
Similarly, the respect due to the sacrament of Matrimony, to
the couples themselves and their families, and also to the community of the
faithful, forbids any pastor, for whatever reason or pretext even of a pastoral
nature, to perform ceremonies of any kind for divorced people who remarry. Such
ceremonies would give the impression of the celebration of a new sacramentally
valid marriage, and would thus lead people into error concerning the
indissolubility of a validly contracted marriage.
By acting in this way, the Church
professes her own fidelity to Christ and to His truth. At the same time she
shows motherly concern for these children of hers, especially those who,
through no fault of their own, have been abandoned by their legitimate partner.
With firm confidence she believes that
those who have rejected the Lord's command and are still living in this state
will be able to obtain from God the grace of conversion and salvation, provided that they have persevered in
prayer, penance and charity.]....
"In these decades, in
truth, the Church has not been either insensitive or slow. Thanks to the
reflection carried out by Pastors, guided and confirmed by my Predecessors, the
awareness has greatly grown that a fraternal and attentive acceptance is
necessary, in love and in truth, of the baptized that have established a new
coexistence after the failure of their sacramental marriage; in fact, these
people are not at all excommunicated, they are not excommunicated! And they are
absolutely not treated as such: they are always part of the Church. Pope
Benedict XVI intervened on this question, soliciting careful discernment and
wise pastoral support, knowing that 'simple recipes' do not exist (Address to the 7th World Meeting of Families,
Milan, June 2, 2012, answer n. 5)....
[5 THE ARAUJO FAMILY (a Brazilian family from Porto
Alegre)
MARIA MARTA: Holy
Father, in our country, just as in the rest of the world, marriage breakdowns
are continually increasing.
My name is Maria Marta and this is Manoel Angelo. We have
been married for 34 years and we are now grandparents. As a doctor and a family
psychotherapist, we meet a great many families and we notice that couples in
difficulties are finding it harder and harder to forgive and to accept
forgiveness. We often encounter the desire and the will to establish a new
partnership, something lasting, for the benefit of the children born from this
second union.
MANOEL ANGELO:
Some of these remarried couples would like to be reconciled with the Church,
but when they see that they are refused the sacraments they are greatly
discouraged. They feel excluded, marked by a judgement against which no appeal
is possible.
These sufferings cause deep hurt to those involved. Their
wounds also afflict the world and they become our wounds, the wounds of the
whole human race.
Holy Father we know that the Church cares deeply about these
situations and these people. What can we say to them and what signs of hope can
we offer them?
THE HOLY FATHER:
Dear friends, thank you for your very important work as family
psychotherapists. Thank you for all that you do to help these suffering people.
Indeed the problem of divorced and remarried persons is one of the great
sufferings of today’s Church. And we do not have simple solutions. Their
suffering is great and yet we can only help parishes and individuals to assist
these people to bear the pain of divorce. I would say, obviously, that
prevention is very important, so that those who fall in love are helped from
the very beginning to make a deep and mature commitment. Then accompaniment
during married life is needed, so that families are never left on their own but
are truly accompanied on their journey. As regards these people - as you have
said - the Church loves them, but it is important they should see and feel this
love. I see here a great task for a parish, a
Catholic community, to do whatever is possible to help them to feel loved and
accepted, to feel that they are not “excluded” even though they cannot receive
absolution or the Eucharist; they should see that, in this state too, they are
fully a part of the Church. Perhaps, even if it is not possible to
receive absolution in Confession, they can nevertheless have ongoing contact
with a priest, with a spiritual guide. This is very important, so that they see
that they are accompanied and guided. Then it is also very important that they
truly realize they are participating in the Eucharist if they enter into a real
communion with the Body of Christ. Even without
“corporal” reception of the sacrament, they can be spiritually united to Christ
in his Body. Bringing them to understand
this is important: so that they find a way to live the life of faith based upon
the Word of God and the communion of the Church, and that they come to see their suffering as a gift to the Church,
because it helps others by defending the stability of love and marriage.
They need to realize that this suffering is not just a physical or
psychological pain, but something that is experienced within the Church
community for the sake of the great values of our faith. I am convinced that
their suffering, if truly accepted from within, is a gift to the Church. They
need to know this, to realize that this is their way of serving the Church,
that they are in the heart of the Church. Thank you for your
commitment.]"
- “Today we begin a short course of reflection on three dimensions that beat the time, so to speak, of the rhythm of family life: celebration, work and prayer….God Himself teaches us the importance of dedicating a time to contemplate and enjoy what was well done in work….a true time of celebration halts professional work and is sacred, because it reminds man and woman that they are made in the image of God, who is not a slave of work, but Lord; therefore, we also must never be slaves of work, but ‘lords.’….Finally, the time of celebration is sacred because God dwells in it in a special way. The Sunday Eucharist brings to a celebration all the grace of Jesus Christ: His presence, His love, His sacrifice, His making us community, His being with us ... And in this way every reality receives its full meaning: work, family, the joys and efforts of every day, also suffering and death; everything is transfigured by the grace of Christ. The family is endowed with an extraordinary capacity to understand, direct and sustain the genuine value of the time of celebration. But how lovely are the celebrations in the family, they are most beautiful! – and, in particular, those of Sunday. It is no accident that the celebrations in which there is place for the whole family are those that succeed better! Family life itself, looked at with the eyes of faith, seems better than the efforts it costs. It seems a masterpiece of simplicity, good precisely because it is not artificial, or false, but able to incorporate in itself all the aspects of a true life. It appears as something ‘very good,’ as God says at the end of the creation of man and of woman (cf. Genesis 1:31). Therefore, a celebration is a precious gift of God; a precious gift that God has made to the human family: let’s not ruin it!” (8/12/15 General Audience: The family - 22. Celebration)
- "Both celebration and work are part of the creative design of God. Work, it is commonly said, is necessary to maintain the family, for the children to grow, to ensure a dignified life to one's dear ones. The best thing that can be said about a serious and honest person is: 'He is a worker'....Prayer and work can and must be together in harmony, as Saint Benedict teaches. Lack of work also harms the spirit, as lack of prayer also harms practical activity. To work – I repeat, in a thousand ways – is proper to the human person. It expresses his dignity of being created in the image of God. Therefore, it is said that work is sacred. And, consequently, the management of employment is a great human and social responsibility, which cannot be left in the hands of a few or discharged on a divinized 'market.' Causing the loss of jobs means creating serious social damage. I am saddened when I see that there are people without work, who don't find work, and don't have the dignity of bringing the bread home. And I rejoice so much when I see that some [political] leaders make many efforts to find jobs and see that all have work. Work is sacred. Work gives dignity to a family. We must pray that work is not lacking in a family. Therefore, like celebration, work is also part of the design of God the Creator.... The Encyclical Laudato Si', which proposes an integral ecology, also contains this message: the beauty of the earth and the dignity of work are made to be combined; both go together: the earth becomes good when it is worked by man. When work is detached from God's covenant with man and woman, when it is separated from its spiritual qualities, when it is hostage to the sole logic of profit and scorns the affections of life, the humiliation of the soul contaminates everything: even the air, the water, the grass, the food ... Civil life is corrupted and the habitat is damaged. And the consequences strike, above all, the poorest and the poorest families. The modern organization of work sometimes shows a dangerous tendency to consider the family a burden, a weight, a passive for the productivity of work. But we ask ourselves: what productivity? And for whom? The so-called 'smart city' is, without a doubt, rich in services and organization; however, it is often hostile, for instance, to children and the elderly. Sometimes one who plans is interested in the management of the individual workforce, in assembling and using or discarding according to the economic convenience. The family is a great test bench. When the organization of work holds it hostage or, in fact, places obstacles in its way, then we are certain that the human society has begun to work against itself! Christian families receive from this circumstance a great challenge and a great mission. They bring to the field the fundamentals of God's creation: the identity and bond of man and woman, the generation of children, the work that renders the earth domestic and the world habitable. The loss of these fundamentals is a very serious affair, and in the common home there are already too many cracks! The task isn't easy. At times, it might seem to family associations, that they are like David before Goliath ... but we know how that challenge ended! Faith and shrewdness are needed. In this difficult moment of our history, may God grant us to receive his call to work with joy and hope, to give dignity to oneself and to one's family" (8/19/15 General Audience: The family - 23. Work).
- "After reflecting on how the family lives times of celebration and work, we now consider the time of prayer....it is necessary to cultivate in the heart a 'warm' love for God, an affectionate love....Are we able to think of God as the caress that holds us in life, before which there was nothing? A caress from which nothing, not even death, can detach us?....One who has a family soon learns to resolve an equation that not even the great mathematicians know how to resolve: within the 24 hours there is twice that number! There are mothers and fathers who could win the Nobel Prize for this. Of 24 hours they make 48: I do not know how they do it but they move and do it! There is so much work in a family! The spirit of prayer gives back time to God, it steps away from the obsession of a life that is always lacking time, it rediscovers the peace of necessary things, and discovers the joy of unexpected gifts....In the prayer of the family, in its intense and in its difficult seasons, we remember one another, so that each one of us in the family is protected by the love of God" (8/26/15 General Audience: The family - 24. Prayer).
- "In this last stage of our course of catechesis on the family, we look at the way the family lives the responsibility to communicate the faith, to transmit the faith, be it within or outside itself. Initially, some evangelical expressions can come to mind that seem to oppose the bonds of the family and the following of Jesus. For instance, those strong words we all know and have heard: 'He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37-38). Of course, with this Jesus does not want to cancel the Fourth Commandment, which is the first great Commandment directed towards persons....Neither can we think that the Lord, after having worked his miracle for the spouses of Cana, after having consecrated the conjugal bond between man and woman, after having restored sons and daughters to family life, is asking us to be insensitive to these bonds!....On the contrary, when Jesus affirms the primacy of faith in God, he finds no greater significant paragon than family affections. And, on the other hand, these same family bonds, within the experience of faith and love of God, are transformed, are 'filled' with greater meaning and are capable of going beyond themselves, to create a wider paternity and maternity, and to receive as brothers and sisters also those that are on the margins of every bond....The wisdom of affections that are not bought and are not sold is the best gift of the family genius. In fact in the family we learn to grow in that atmosphere of wisdom of the affections.... The circulation of a family style in human relations is a blessing for peoples: it brings hope on earth. When family affections allow themselves to be converted to witness of the Gospel, they become capable of unthinkable things, which make one touch with the hand the works of God....And where these family affections exist, these gestures of the heart are born which are more eloquent than words ....The family that responds to Jesus’ call restores the direction of the world to the covenant of man and woman with God....If, beginning with the Church, we give back leadership to the family that listens to the Word of God and puts it into practice, we will become like the good wine of the Wedding of Cana, we will grow like God’s leaven!....A family’s smile is capable of overcoming this desertification of our cities. And this is the victory of the love of the family. No economic or political engineering is able to substitute this contribution of families. The Babel project builds skyscrapers without life. Instead, God’s Spirit makes deserts flower (cf. Isaiah 32:15)....The communion of charisms – those given to the Sacrament of Marriage and those granted to consecration for the Kingdom of God – is destined to transform the Church into a fully familiar place for the encounter with God. Let us go forward on this path; let us not lose hope. Where there is a family with love, that family is capable of warming the heart of a whole city with its witness of love. Pray for me, let us pray for one another, that we may become capable of recognizing and upholding God’s visits. The Spirit will bring happy chaos in Christian families, and man’s city will come out of depression!" (9/2/15 General Audience: The family - 25. Evangelization).
- "Today I would like to focus our attention on the bond between the family and the Christian community. It is, so to speak, a 'natural' bond, because the Church is a spiritual family and the family is a small Church (cf. Lumen gentium, 9). The Christian community is the home of those who believe in Jesus as the source of fraternity among all men. The Church walks in the midst of the peoples, in the history of men and women, of fathers and mothers, of sons and daughters: this is the history that counts for the Lord. The great events of the worldly powers are written in history books, and they remain there. However, the history of human affections is written directly in the heart of God; and it is the history that remains in eternity. This is the place of life and of faith. The family is the place of our initiation – irreplaceable, indelible – to this history, to this history of eternal life that will end with the contemplation of God for all eternity in Heaven. But it begins in the family! Therefore, the family is very important. The Son of God learned human history in this way, and he lived it to the end (cf. Hebrews 2:18; 5:8). It is good to contemplate Jesus again and the signs of this bond! He was born in a family and there he “learned the world”: a shop, four houses, a nothing village. Yet, by living this experience for thirty years, Jesus assimilated the human condition, gathering it in his communion with his Father and in his very apostolic mission. Then, when he left Nazareth and began his public life, Jesus formed around himself a community, an “assembly,” namely, a convocation of persons. This is the meaning of the word “church.” In the Gospels, Jesus’ assembly has the form of a hospitable family, not of an exclusive sect: we find Peter and John, but also the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the persecuted, the sinner and the publican, the Pharisees and the crowds. And Jesus does not cease to receive and to talk to all, also to one who no longer expects to encounter God in his life. It is a strong lesson for the Church! The disciples themselves were chosen to take care of this assembly, of this family of God’s guests. For this reality of Jesus’ assembly to be alive today, it is indispensable to revive the alliance between the family and the Christian community. We can say that the family and the parish are the two places in which that communion of love is realized, which finds its ultimate source in God himself. A Church that is truly according to the Gospel cannot but have the form of a welcoming home, with the doors always open. Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must not be called Churches; they must be called museums! This is a crucial alliance today....Sometimes families draw back, saying that they are not up to the measure....It’s true, but no one is worthy, no one is up to the measure, no one has the strength! We can do nothing without God’s grace. Everything is given to us – freely given! And the Lord never arrives in a family without doing a miracle. Let us recall what he did at the Wedding of Cana! Yes, if we put ourselves in his hands, the Lord makes us do miracles -- those miracles of every day when the Lord is in that family. Of course, the Christian community must also do its part. For instance, it must seek to overcome too directive and too functional attitudes, fostering inter-personal dialogue and mutual knowledge and esteem. Families take the initiative and feel the responsibility to take their precious gifts to the community. We must all be aware that the Christian faith is played in the open field of life shared with all; the family and the parish must work the miracle of a more communal life for the whole society. The Mother of Jesus was at Cana, the 'Mother of Good Counsel.' Let us listen to her words: 'Do whatever he tells you' (cf. John 2:5). Dear families, dear parish communities, we must let ourselves be inspired by this Mother: let us do everything that Jesus tells us and we will find ourselves before a miracle! – the miracle of every day" (9/9/15 General Audience: The family - 26.Community).
- "This is our final reflection on the subject of marriage and the family. We are on the eve of beautiful and demanding events, which are directly connected with this great subject: the World Meeting of Families at Philadelphia and the Synod of Bishops here in Rome....a new alliance of man and woman ...[is] not only necessary but also strategic for the emancipation of people from the colonization of money....Of this alliance, the conjugal-family community of man and woman is the generative grammar, the 'golden bond,' we could say. Faith draws it from the wisdom of the creation of God, who has entrusted to the family not the care of an intimacy that ends in itself, but rather the exciting project of rendering the world 'domestic.' The family, in fact, is at the beginning, at the base of this global culture that saves us. It saves us from so many, so many attachments, so many destructions, so many colonizations, such as that of money or those ideological ones that threaten the world so much; the family is at the base to defend oneself....in our brief Wednesday meditations on the family, we took our fundamental inspiration from the biblical Word of creation....God’s creation is not a simple philosophical premise: it is the universal horizon of life and of faith! There is not a different divine design of creation and of its salvation. It is for the salvation of the creature – of every creature – that God became man....The created world is entrusted to man and woman: what happens between them leaves an imprint on everything. Their rejection of God’s blessing leads fatally to a delirium of omnipotence that ruins everything. It is what we call 'original sin'....Despite this, we are not cursed or abandoned to ourselves. The ancient account of God’s first love for man and woman, already had pages written with fire in this regard!....God marks woman with a protective barrier against evil, to which she can take recourse – if she wishes – for every generation. It means that woman bears a secret and special blessing, for the defense of her child from the Evil One!....the merciful protection of God in the dealings of man and woman never fails for both....Christ, born of woman, of a woman, is God’s caress on our wounds, on our mistakes, on our sins. But God loves us as we are and wants to lead us forward with this plan! And woman is the strongest who carries this plan forward. The promise that God makes to man and woman, at the beginning of history, includes all human beings until the end of history. If we have sufficient faith, the families of the peoples of the earth will recognize themselves in this blessing. Whoever lets himself be moved by this vision in any way, regardless to what people, nation, or religion he belongs, let him get underway with us. He/she will be our brother and sister, without engaging in proselytism, no! We walk together under this blessing and under this objective of God to make us all brothers in life in a world that goes forward and is born in fact of the family, of the union of man and woman. May God bless you, families of all corners of the earth! And may God bless you all!" (9/16/15 General Audience: The family - 27. Nations)
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