The Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia" begins in the Church.
"The Gospel of the Family is Joy."
A special Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia -The Joy of Love " began in the Catholic Church on March 19, 2021. Pope Francis announced it on December 27,2020 on the Feast of the Holy Family. This time will provide depth reflection on the evangelical vision of the family and the value of human life.
On the one hand, we have the Year of Saint Joseph, and on the other, the Year of the Family - Amoris Laetitia. We must not forget that the Holy Spirit directs the community of Jesus' followers. That is why it was God Himself who offered us this extraordinary type of connection and highlighting of the aforementioned "thematic " – of this year.
On December 27, 2020, the Holy Father said that all the faithful are called to rediscover the educative role of the family based on love. He emphasized that a family can experience sincere communion when it is a house of prayer, and forgiveness outweighs disagreement.
The inauguration of the Year falls on the feast of Saint Joseph and coincides with the 5th anniversary of the Pope's proclamation of the apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia - The Joy of Love". It will end with the 10th World Meeting of Families to be held in Rome next June.
As the Pope pointed out, the main goal of the Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia" is to make people experience that the Gospel of the family is a joy that fills hearts and all life.
For all of us, the Year of the Family is an opportunity to acquire the rich teaching of the Church on the family since Paul VI and the encyclical "Humanae Vitae", John Paul II’s “Familiaris Consortio”, The Theology of the Body, teaching of Benedict XVI, and the Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia -The Joy of Love” of Pope Francis, which is the fruit of a synod on the family. We need to bring the Church's teaching on marriage and the family to the life of our Families. So, let me for the next few days to share with you some thoughts about the Family.
How Can You Identify Truly Christian Families? - the Holy Father Francis teaches
“Truly Christian families can be identified by their loyalty, patience, openness to life, and respect for the elderly. The secret of all this is the presence of Jesus in the family” - said Pope Francis, speaking to the participants of the 21st plenary session of the Pontifical Council for the Family. And the Pope continued: The first point which I would like to consider is this: the family is a community of life which has its own autonomous consistency. As Saint John Paul II wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation “Familiaris Consortio”, the family is not merely the sum of persons belonging to it, but a “community of persons” (cf. FC. 17-18). And a community is more than the sum total of persons that belong to it. It is the place where one learns to love, it is the natural center of human life. It is made up of faces, of people who love, dialogue, make self-sacrifices for one another and defend life, especially of the most vulnerable and the weakest.
One could say, without exaggeration, that the family is the driving force of the world and of history - the pope pointed out. Our personality develops in the family, by growing up with our mom and dad, our brothers and sisters, by breathing in the warmth of the home.
The family is the place where we receive our name, it is the place of affection, the space of intimacy, where one acquires the art of dialogue and interpersonal communication. In the family the person becomes aware of his or her own dignity and, especially if their upbringing is Christian, each one recognizes the dignity of every single person, in a particular way the sick, the weak and the marginalized.
The family – Pope Francis noted - is founded on marriage. Spousal and familial love also clearly reveals the vocation of the person to love in a unique way and forever, and that the trials, sacrifices and crises of couples as well as of the family as a whole represent pathways for growth in goodness, truth and beauty. In marriage we give ourselves completely without calculation or reserve, sharing everything, gifts and hardship, trusting in God’s Providence. This is the experience that the young can learn from their parents and grandparents.
Holy Father pointed out, that Children and the elderly are the two poles of life and the most vulnerable as well, often the most forgotten. A society that neglects children and marginalizes the elderly severs its roots and darkens its future. And you have been assessing what our culture today is doing, haven’t you? Every time a child is abandoned and an elderly person cast out, not only is it an act of injustice, but it also ensures the failure of that society. Caring for our little ones and for our elders is a choice for civilization - emphasized the bishop of Rome.
According to Holy Father: The Church that cares for children and the elderly becomes the mother of generations of believers and, at the same time, serves human society because a spirit of love, familiarity and solidarity helps all people to rediscover the fatherhood and motherhood of God.
Francis emphasized that a very important part of evangelization is the proclamation of the "good news" about the family by the testimony of their own lives. Let us therefore propose to all people, with respect and courage, the beauty of marriage and the family illuminated by the Gospel! And in order to do this let us approach with care and affection those families who are struggling, forced to leave their homeland, broken, homeless or unemployed, or suffering for any reason; let us approach married couples in crisis or separated. Let us be close to everyone through the proclamation of this Gospel of the family, the beauty of the family.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george
Pope Francis Prayer to the Holy Family
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we contemplate the splendor of true love; to you we turn with trust. Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our families too may be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic churches. Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejection and division; may all who have been hurt or scandalized find ready comfort and healing. Holy Family of Nazareth, make us once more mindfulof the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God’s plan. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Graciously hear our prayer.
Amen