THE POPE’S MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE TO YOUR FAMILY

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Selected quotes from Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia, Joy of the Family

 

IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

·   The welfare of the family is decisive for the future of the world and that of the Church.

·    Don’t you realize that the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? These are big problems. (Interview on the document)

I. CHRIST AND THE FAMILY

·   In and among families, the Gospel message should always resound; the core of that message, the kerygma [God loves us and is near us], is what is most beautiful, most excellent, most appealing and at the same time most necessary.

·   If a family is centred on Christ, he will unify and illumine its entire life.

·   Emphasis should be given to the importance of family spirituality, prayer and participation in the Sunday Eucharist, and couples encouraged to meet regularly to promote growth in their spiritual life and solidarity in the concrete demands of life.

·   It is essential that children actually see that, for their parents, prayer is something truly important.

·   A few minutes can be found each day to come together before the living God with a few simple words, this moment of prayer can do immense good for our families.

·   Many are touched by the power of grace experienced in sacramental Reconciliation and in the Eucharist, grace that helps them face the challenges of marriage and the family.

·   Every morning, on rising, we reaffirm before God our decision to be faithful, come what may in the course of the day.

II. LOVE AND MARRIAGE

·   It is important that marriage be seen as a matter of love, that only those who freely choose and love one another may marry. When love is merely physical attraction or a vague affection, spouses become particularly vulnerable once this affection wanes or physical attraction diminishes.

·   True love between husband and wife involves mu­tual self-giving, includes and integrates the sexu­al and affective dimensions.

·   Develop a routine that gives a healthy sense of closeness and stability through shared daily rituals. These could include a morning kiss, an evening blessing, waiting at the door to welcome each other home, taking trips together and sharing household chores.

·   There is growing danger represented by an extreme individualism which weakens family bonds.

·   The strength of the family lies in its capacity to love and to teach how to love. For all a family's problems, it can always grow, beginning with love.

·   What really makes us important is a love that understands, shows concern, and embraces the weak.

·   The spirituality of family love is made up of thousands of small but real gestures.

·   Love is ever ready to be of assistance.

·   Persevere in a love strengthened by the virtues of generosity, commitment, fidelity and patience.

·   Our loved ones merit our complete attention.

·   Greater emphasis on personal communication between the spouses helps to make family life more humane. 

III. PROCREATION AND CHILDREN

·      The word which appears most frequently in the Old Testament after the name of God, is "child". Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward.

·      Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that children are a wonderful gift from God and a joy for parents and the Church. Through them, the Lord renews the world.

·      The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior. For this reason, fruitful love becomes a symbol of God's inner life.

·      Large families are a joy for the Church.

IV. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

·      It is important to reiterate that the overall education of children is a "most serious duty" and at the same time a "primary right" of parents. This is not just a task or a burden, but an essential and inalienable right.

·      What is most important is the ability lovingly to help children grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy. Only in this way will children come to possess the wherewithal needed to fend for themselves.

·      Where are your children existentially: where they stand in terms of their convictions, goals, desires and dreams? Where is their soul?

·      It is important thing is to teach them sensitivity to different expressions of love, mutual concern.

·      Develop the habit of giving real importance to the other person.

·      It is important to train children firmly to ask forgiveness and to repair the harm done to others.

·      Distractions abound, including an addiction to television. This makes it all the more difficult for parents to hand on the faith to their children.

·      One of the most important tasks of families is to provide an education in hope. This does not mean preventing children from playing with electronic devices, but rather finding ways to help them develop their critical abilities. When children or adolescents are not helped to realize that some things have to be waited for, they can become obsessed with satisfying their immediate needs and develop the vice of “wanting it all now”. When we are taught to postpone some things until the right moment, we learn self-mastery and detachment from our impulses.

·      Sex education can only be seen within the broader framework of an education for love, for mutual self-giving.

·      It is always irresponsible to invite adolescents to toy with their bodies and their desires, as if they possessed the maturity, values, mutual commitment and goals proper to marriage.

·      Show a person that it is in his own interest to do what is right. Today, it is less and less effective to demand something that calls for effort and sacrifice, without clearly pointing to the benefits which it can bring.

·      Strengthening of the will and the repetition of specific actions are the building blocks of moral conduct.

·      Help children view the world with the love of Jesus and who can understand life as a call to serve God.

LAST ADVICE

·      May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us.

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These one-page leaflets have started going viral around the world. Leaflets were posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England"), in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada,  in Kenya and in Macau. To get the full collection, please see this: One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Going Viral!