Source<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\nIn a world poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, by a culture of indifference and waste, Pope Francis praised the beauty of the family and said \u201ctoday more than ever\u201d we feel compelled to defend it.<\/p>\n\n
The Pope was speaking during the homily at a Mass of thanksgiving on Saturday at the end of the 10th World Meeting of Families that has been unfolding in the Vatican on the theme \u201cFamily Love: a Vocation and a Path to Holiness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
The five-day event, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, concludes on Sunday when Pope Francis is scheduled to address families during the Angelus.<\/p>\n\n
He described the moments of reflection and sharing, with their rich variety of experiences, plans and dreams, concerns and uncertainties, which have taken place during the World Meeting of Families, describing it as “a kind of vast constellation.” He told all those present: \u201cFathers, mothers and children, grandparents, uncles and aunts, adults and children, young and old,\u201d each bringing a different experience of family, but with one hope and prayer.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cMay God bless and keep your families and all the families of the world.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\nPope Francis then reflected on the liturgical readings of the day that all shine light on different aspects of marital and family love.<\/p>\n\n
Family is the place where we learn to love<\/strong>
\nIn Saint Paul\u2019s Letter to the Galatians, he said the Apostle tells us that the freedom given to us by God is completely directed to love, so that \u201cthrough love you may become slaves of one another\u201d (Gal. 5:13).
\nTurning to married couples, he praised their courageous decision to build a family and \u201cto use your freedom not for yourselves, but to love the persons that God has put at your side.”<\/p>\n\nInstead of living like little islands, he said, you became \u201cservants of one another\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
That is how freedom is exercised in the family, Pope Francis explained, there are no \u201cplanets\u201d or \u201csatellites\u201d, each travelling on its own orbit. The family is the place of encounter, of sharing, of going forth from ourselves in order to welcome others and stand beside them. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe family is the first place where we learn to love.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\nEven as we reaffirm this with profound conviction, he said, we know full well \u201cthat it is not always the case, for any number of reasons and a variety of situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAnd so, in praising the beauty of the family, we also feel compelled, today more than ever, to defend the family. Let us not allow the family to be poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, today\u2019s culture of indifference and waste, and as a result lose its very DNA, which is the spirit of acceptance and service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Relationship between generations<\/strong>
\nThe Second Book of Kings tells of the relationship between the prophets Elijah and Elisha. It reminds us, the Pope said, of the relationship between generations, the \u201cpassing on of witness\u201d from parents to children.<\/p>\n\nHe said in a world in which everything seems chaotic and precarious, some parents fear \u201cthat children will not be able to find their way amid the complexity and confusion of our societies.\u201d This fear, he added, makes some parents anxious and others overprotective.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAt times, it even ends up thwarting the desire to bring new lives into the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\nBut reflecting on the relationship between Elijah and Elisha in which God shows us that he has confidence in the new generation, Pope Francis said: \u201cHow important it is for parents to reflect on God\u2019s way of acting!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cGod loves young people, but that does not mean that He preserves them from all risk, from every challenge and from all suffering.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\u201cGod is not anxious and overprotective; on the contrary, He trusts young people and He calls each of them to scale the heights of life and of mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
And he encouraged parents not to shield their children \u201cfrom the slightest hardship and suffering, but to try to communicate to them a passion for life, to arouse in them the desire to discover their vocation and embrace the great mission that God has in mind for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
“Dear parents,” he said, “if you help your children to discover and to accept their vocation, you will see that they too will be ‘gripped’ by this mission; and they will find the strength they need to confront and overcome the difficulties of life.”<\/p>\n\n
A never-ending journey<\/strong>
\nFinally, the Gospel of Luke tells us that \u201cTo follow Jesus means to set out on a never-ending \u201ctrip\u201d with him through the events of life. <\/p>\n\n\u201cHow true this is for you married couples!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\nThe Pope said that our Christian vocation calls us to experience \u201cmarriage and family life as a mission, demonstrating fidelity and patience despite difficulties, moments of sadness and times of trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Inevitably, he said, there will be moments of \u201cresistance, opposition, rejection and misunderstanding born of human hearts,\u201d but with the grace of Christ, we are called to \u201ctransform these into acceptance of others and gratuitous love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
By accepting the call to marriage and family, couples set out on a trip, \u201cwithout knowing beforehand where exactly it would lead, and what new situations, unexpected events and surprises would eventually lie in store,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cThat is what it means to journey with the Lord. It is a lively, unpredictable and marvellous voyage of discovery.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\nThe Church was born of a family<\/strong>
\nPope Francis concluded by inviting families to keep looking ahead \u201cas Jesus always precedes us on the way in love and service; He encouraged them to share the joy of family love that must always be open, directed outwards, capable of \u2018touching\u2019 the weak and wounded, the frail in body and the frail in spirit, and all whom you meet along the way\u201d; and by assuring them that the Church is with them and in them!<\/p>\n\n\u201cFor the Church was born of a family, the Holy Family of Nazareth, and is made up mostly of families.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Linda Bordoni Source In a world poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, by a culture of indifference and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nouvelle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}