Pope: Couples need Church's help
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"Your work is precious to the Church," Pope Francis told the international leaders of the Teams of Our Lady International Catholic Movement for Christian Married Couples, as he thanked them for their commitment to help families, especially many "striving to live Christian marriage as a gift."
The movement, whose origins date back to the 1930s in France but now operates across several continents, is recognized as a private international association of the faithful.
The Christian family, the Pope warned, "is currently facing a true 'cultural storm' in this changing era, threatened and tempted on various fronts."
For this reason, the Holy Father emphasized the value of the efforts to accompany couples closely so that they do not feel alone in the difficulties of life and in their marital relationship.
"In this way," he said, "you are an expression of the Church 'going out,' which draws close to people's situations and problems and spends itself without reserve for the good of families today and tomorrow."
Safeguarding marriage and families
"It is a true mission today to accompany couples!" the Pope said. "To safeguard marriage, in fact, means to safeguard an entire family, it means to save all the relationships generated by marriage: the love between spouses, between parents and children, between grandparents and grandchildren."
It means, the Holy Father suggested, saving that witness of "a possible and forever love," in which "young people struggle to believe."
For children, the Pope said, this is particularly important.
"Children, in fact," he urged, "need to receive from their parents the certainty that God created them out of love, and that one day they too will be able to love and feel loved as Mommy and Daddy did."
That seed of love, planted in their hearts by their parents, the Holy Father reassured, will eventually sprout.
Jesus' grace offers couples strength to remain united
The Holy Father went on to recognize a great urgency in the world today, namely "to help young people discover that Christian marriage is a vocation, a specific call that God addresses to a man and a woman so that they may fully realize themselves by becoming generative, by becoming father and mother, and by bringing the Grace of their Sacrament into the world."
This grace, he recalled, is the love of Christ united to that of the spouses, His presence among them, and God's fidelity to their love.
"It is He," Pope Francis insisted, "who gives them the strength to grow together everyday and to remain united."
Christ's presence makes journey possible
The presence of Christ among spouses, the Holy Father continued, "makes the journey possible," and the yoke transforms into a game of glances: the gaze between the two spouses, the gaze between the spouses and Christ.
Christ, the Holy Father suggested, is the key for couples to protect their "precious treasure" of the married life.
Pope Francis then offered two recommendations, the first concerning newly married couples.
"Take care of them!" he insisted, especially younger couples who need examples of faith and love.
"Do not let them accumulate suffering and wounds in the loneliness of their homes. Help them discover the oxygen of faith with gentleness, patience, and trust in the action of the Holy Spirit."
The Pope's second suggestion was to build an always-greater co-responsibility between spouses and priests within their movement.
Rediscovering joyful prayer together
The Pope encouraged them to help families in their Dioceses understand the importance of helping each other and building communities where Christ can "dwell" in homes and family relationships.
Pope Francis concluded by entrusting their mission and families to the Virgin Mary and her protection.
"In this year dedicated to prayer," he encouraged, "may you help discover and rediscover the joy of praying together at home, with simplicity and in daily life."
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