The Importance of the Family
excerpted from:
http://www.stthomasofvillanova.org/education/religious_education/TheDomesticChurch.htm
Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom
of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church
is nothing other than “the family of God.” From
the beginning, the core of the Church was often
constituted by those who had become believers
“together with all [their] household.” When they
were converted, they desired that “their whole
household” should also be saved. These families
who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
In our own time, in a world often alien and even
hostile to faith, believing families are of
primary importance as centers of living, radiant
faith. It is in the bosom of the family that
parents are “by word and example... the first
heralds of the faith with regard to their
children. They should encourage them in the
vocation which is proper to each child, fostering
with special care any religious vocation.”
It is here that the father of the family, the
mother, children, and all members of the family
exercise the priesthood of the baptized in a
privileged way “by the reception of the
sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness
of a holy life, and self-denial and active
charity.” Thus the home is the first school of
Christian life and “a school for human
enrichment.” Here one learns endurance and the
joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even
repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine
worship in prayer and the offering of one's life.
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your
inspiration and continue with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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