This week, October 22nd was the Memorial of St. John Paul II. It is wonderful day to remember and focus on the message of life and unity that were the core messages of his pontificate. As our Holy Father Francis and the members of the Synod on the Family conclude their meetings, I would like once more to reflect on Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.
“St. John Paul II exhorted, ‘Family, become what you are,’ and his words have lost nothing of their vibrancy; their urgency has only intensified in the face of the many challenges that families experience today.” (#197)
What are we, as family to become?
- A family that chooses life. This is the primary vocation of all Christians; we give life. Jesus reminds us, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”(Jn 14:6)Jesus is the life of the world and if we follow Him we also live life fully. It is ever more important that the family become a place of life especially as we hear the grim news of abortion and the newly enacted euthanasia law in California. When the family becomes a fount of life society becomes life giving and the evil of the culture of death is exposed for the lie that it is.
- A family that is a domestic Church. We are reminded that in baptism the parents and godparents accept the responsibility of sharing their faith with their children. This is a call to unity because we can never do it alone. The family extends and grows as we are united in the Body of Christ. Families in sharing their faith grow deeper in their faith because it becomes part of the everyday rhythm of life. To speak of God, to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to live in the breath of the Holy Spirit is a natural extension of our family conversations where prayer is our daily bread
- A family that is a communion of love. The man and woman joined in sacramental grace are transformed into a community of love. This foundational love is the building blocks for holy and happy families. They, the wife and husband, must take time to share with each other the marital love that is sacrificial and obedient to one another. Their love, flowing into the family, help to establish the future holiness of the world that is reflected in the joy shared and given as they are invited into the greater unity of the Church.
- A family that is a home. A home is more that a structure, rather it is a place of refuge from the emotional, spiritual and other battles that we fight in the world. The home becomes the resting place where we rest in the love of God that surrounds us in the family. It is an ideal that we should all strive to meet as sons and daughters of the living God.
- A family that is a missionary witness. We are all called to be evangelist of the word of God, to witness to our faith in our daily lives. This was the challenge Pope Benedict XVI gave the Church: the missionary field is not in far off lands but in the family, in the traditional Christian lands needing to rediscover their faith in a God who is love and comes to save. This witness needs to be shared also within our family.
I know that the ideal of family expressed above is “an ideal” and that all families struggle to meet this ideal. But the call to holiness means that we must challenge ourselves and others to strive for greatness in our relationships and not mediocrity in living the life of Christian virtue. It is taking Jesus at his word, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)
God Bless, Fr. Mark