Pope says Christians need to promote life, traditional families

FAMILIES-POPE Jan-20-2009
Pope says Christians need to promote life, traditional families
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “Today more than ever, Christian families need to pay witness to and promote the irreplaceable value of life and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman. The best service that we Christians can offer today's society is being "people who are free and rich with human and Gospel values and who are on a journey toward holiness." Pope Benedict XVI said.

The traditional family is "an indispensable foundation of society and peoples as well as an irreplaceable good for children who deserve to come into the world as a fruit of love and the total and generous giving of the parents," he said at the end of the Sixth World Meeting of Families which took place Jan. 14-18 in Mexico City. He made these comments via satellite from the Vatican Jan. 18 after a closing Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Mass was celebrated by the pope's envoy, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

“Christians also need to show that they are open to life at all its stages. Every Christian must help promote "legislative and administrative measures" that support the traditional family and their "inalienable rights." The family, founded on indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, is the expression of this relational, filial and communal aspect of life. It is the setting where men and women are enabled to be born with dignity, and to grow and develop in an integral manner," he said.

But families' efforts to be a true school of humanity and perennial values are being hindered by "a deceptive concept of freedom that glorifies whims and individual impulses to the point of leaving everyone locked up in the prison of his or her own 'I'. True human freedom comes from having been created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, should be exercised with responsibility, always opting for the true good so that it becomes love, the gift of self. Real love and closeness among family members are needed more than ideals or theories,” he added.

It is through one's concrete experience in the home "that one learns to truly live and value life and health, freedom and peace, justice and truth, work, harmony and respect," he said.

Pope Benedict also said his prayers were with families who are facing the trials of poverty, illness, isolation and separation because of migration, as well as those families being persecuted for their Christian faith. He encouraged large families who are oftentimes criticized or not understood by others yet are giving "an example of generosity and faith in God." He urged families to pray together, especially the rosary, and to build their faith on listening to the word of God and working to incorporate Gospel values concretely in their lives.

He concluded with the announcement of the next World Meeting of Families will held in Milan, Italy, in 2012 on the theme "The Family: Work and Play”
The family is the basic unit of society. As such, it is the source of its strengths and weaknesses. A strong foundation naturally gives a strong outcome, while a weak one results in a society that is unstable. Therefore, if we want stable and strong societies, we must start at the very core of it – the family.
It is in the family where the creation of God – man and woman – and no other share in His gift of procreation. That is why we have the institution of Holy Matrimony that gives the couple the sanctifying grace to bring up their family in the way of God. Respect for the uniqueness of one another and giving him/her the free exercise and expression of his/ her will. Our free will is God’s gift to us.
It is also in the family where we learn our ‘firsts’ starting from our growth and development in all aspects of our personality. It is the place where we learn and see values lived out in the lives of our parents. That is why we are a product of our parents and our environment. It is where and it is with our family we first learn the lessons of life.

We must respect life in all its forms and stages – from being small to big, from conception to senility. Life is God’s gift to us; therefore, He alone has the right to take it.
Any effort from the outside to shaken family values must be arrested in its very early stage. The move of our legislators with the Reproductive Health Bill is an outstanding example. The hidden agenda of these people are masked in this bill while the burden of guilt is laid on us, the people, when we are made to do what is against our conscience. We must not allow them to trade us with their personal whims and fancies.

Let us nurture and protect our families if we want to see our children live in dignity and respect for one another in a just, work-loving, peaceful, caring, healthy, life-promoting society.

With Commentary by Ma. Rosario R. Tejada