A Word from Your Pastor - October 18

Dear Parishioners:

As the Church continues her efforts to discover the best way to promote the life of the family, the fundamental building block of our society, it is useful for us to reflect on how ages past have seen family life.  For most cultures, it was recognized without any question that the best way to succeed was to have good family connections.  “Arranged marriages” were really an effort to take advantage of the unity that family brings to the advantage of both families of origin.  We look askance at this from our vantage point of the choice of the parties involved in the marriage, but the truth is that when families are compatible, there is a greater likelihood of success in a marriage.

St. Augustine in his Confessions looks back on his own meandering path and suggests that even in his day there was a motivation toward marriage and family that was ignored to one’s peril.  To marry could be to reach for a sense of “honor” that could be earned “by fulfilling the duties of a well-ordered marriage and raising a family.”  When one married instead due to lust or out of habit, the higher purposes of marriage were obscured.

In our time, we are being invited by the Church to renew commitment to being members of God’s Family and to living our own family life in the image of God through mutuality of respect and love open to God’s grace.  Young people, Pope Francis says, should not be afraid to embark on the adventure of marriage and raising a family.  The family is meant to be a school of love and to teach each member how to be sacrificial in giving of oneself to others.

Pope Francis in his homespun way tells tales of family life and invites us to love one another in practical ways.  Saint Pope John Paul II wrote much on family life through his long papacy.  We can learn much from these patriarchs in our church family.  Bishop Campbell has begun a series of talks about marriage and family that might be helpful to you and your family.

In the month of October, we celebrate respect for life.  The protection of life at every stage of development happens best in families united in mind and heart.  The call to prayer, especially the Rosary, is addressed to every family.  Attendance at Sunday Mass as a family, daily prayer and a personal commitment by every parent to raise their children by word and example in the ways of faith are all necessary components of family life.

Jesus lived as a member of the Holy Family of Nazareth.  May we learn to live as Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in the image of the Trinity.