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Changing the world one family at a time
For many of us, our grand-parents are among the people who bring about the tenderest memories we have, because they are the ones who, being free from the responsibility of parenting, can give an abundance of affection and love to their grandchildren.
Pope John Paul II pointed out in “Familiares consortio” that the contributions of grandparents are very important, and for this reason they also should be included in the concept of family.
The family is, in fact, the foundation of society and the basic cell of the church. For this reason, the last popes including Benedict XVI, repeatedly call it “domestic church.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also included the family among their five priorities for the pastoral ministry of the church in this country for the upcoming years.
For this reason, when we talk about reforming society or the church, we can say with certainty: with the family we can change everything; without the family we cannot change anything.
It would be wonderful if we were all born in a family that responded to the longings of our heart, but for some that is not a reality. Yet, even those who complain about the family they were born into, do it because it is a natural yearning to long for a family that surrounded them with tenderness, respect, love and protection.
And precisely because the family is so vital for each human person, for society and for the church, God established the fourth commandment: Honor your father and your mother. This commandment is an affirmation of the centrality of the role of the family in today’s society.
For this reason, the Compendium of the Catechism tells us that in God’s plan, “a man and a woman united in marriage form a family together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the family becomes the domestic church because it is a community of faith, of hope and of charity.” (Compendium 456)
The Catechism of the Church also teaches us that the family has a value superior to that of the state, and for this reason, public authorities must recognize the value of marriage and the family, they must respect, protect and foster the true nature of this institution in order to strengthen it.
It is the duty of public authorities to strengthen the family and to avoid any kind of law that would threaten this unity formed by the marriage between a man and a woman along with their children. In the same way, it is our duty to prevent social and cultural tendencies that undermine the value of the family.
The commandments, then, offer us a simple and concrete path to defend the family: to honor father and mother. As the Catechism explains, “children owe respect (filial piety), gratitude, docility and obedience to their parents. In paying them respect and in fostering good relationships with their brothers and sisters, children contribute to the growth in harmony and holiness in family life in general. Adult children should give their parents material and moral support whenever they find themselves in situations of distress, sickness, loneliness, or old age.” (Compendium 459) Thus, parents deserve all our love and respect, because of the place that God has given them in our lives.
Parents certainly have grave responsibilities towards their children. The Compendium reminds us that parents “have the duty to love and respect their children as persons and as children of God and to provide, as far as is possible, for their physical and spiritual needs.” (Compendium 460)
Let us then entrust the destiny of our families and of the family in the United States to the Holy Family of Nazareth, so that it will be always recognized and protected as a fundamental institution in our society.
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