Pope
Francis: Family life focus of General Audience
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis at his Wednesday General Audience
continued his catechesis on the family, focusing on family life.
“Today’s catechesis is like the gateway to a series of
reflections on the life of the family, its real life, with its different times
and events.” On this gateway, he said, “are written three words, which I’ve
already used many times: ‘May I?’, ‘Thank you,’ and ‘Pardon me.’” These three
words, Pope Francis said, “open the path” to a happy family life. “They are
simple words,” he said, “but not so simple to put into practice.” These three
words, when they are based not simply on good manners, but on deep love and
respect for others, have great power to strengthen family life.
Three Words
The first word is “May I?” “When we concern ourselves with
gently requesting even those things we might think we have a right too, we
place a real defence for the spirit of harmony in the marriage and the family.”
Even Jesus asks permission to enter our lives, the Pope said, recalling the
verse from Revelation: “I stand at the door and knock.”
The second word, “Thank you,” is an integral part of the life of
a Christian. Too often in modern society, Pope Francis said, evil words and
behaviours are touted as expressions of freedom, while kindness and courtesy
are seen as signs of weakness, or even viewed with suspicion. These attitudes
must be rejected in family life. “Gratitude, for a believer, is at the heart of
the faith: a Christian who does not know how to give thanks is one who has
forgotten the language of God.” A spirit of gratitude within the family is at
the foundation of respect for the dignity of the human person and of social
justice.
Finally, “Pardon me,” “forgive me,” is a difficult word to say, but
absolutely necessary. Pope Francis links the ability to ask for forgiveness
with the ability to forgive others. “If we are not able to apologize, it means
we are unable to forgive.” Pope Francis offered a word of advice to families:
“Never finish the day without making peace.”
Pope Francis recognized that his “three words” might seem
simplistic. “The three key-words for the family are simple words, and perhaps
at first they may cause us to smile,” the Holy Father said. “But when we forget
them, there’s nothing to laugh about, is there?” Too often, perhaps, they may
be obscured. “May the Lord help us to put them back in their proper place, in
our hearts, in our homes, and even in our civil society.”
Our Lady of Fatima
At the conclusion of the Audience, Pope Francis had special
greetings especially for young people, the sick, and new spouses. He recalled
that May 13 is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. “Dear young people, learn and
cultivate devotion to the Mother of God, with the daily recitation of the Rosary;
dear [brothers and sisters] who are ill, feel the presence of Mary in the hour
of the Cross; and you dear newly-married husbands and wives, pray to her that
love and mutual respect will never be lacking in your homes.”
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