Pope Leo XIV at the
Mass for the Jubilee for Families (@Vatican Media)
Pope Leo invites lay faithful to join in mission to
families
Addressing a seminar on “Evangelizing with Families of Today
and Tomorrow,” Pope Leo XIV calls on the faithful – clergy and laity – to be
“fishers of families” by promoting an encounter with God.
By Christopher Wells
In an age “marked by a growing search for spirituality,” the
Church must be “farsighted in discerning the challenges of today’s world and in
nurturing the desire for faith present in the heart of every man and woman,”
Pope Leo said on Monday.
In a Message to a seminar focused on “Evangelizing
with the Families of Today and Tomorrow,” the Holy Father emphasized the need
to reach out especially to those families that are “spiritually most distant
from us,” who for various reasons do not feel involved or who feel excluded
from the Church, but that nonetheless desire to be part of a community.
How many of these people, the Pope asked “simply do not hear
the invitation to encounter God?”
Instead, Pope Leo worried that “an increasingly widespread
‘privatization’ of faith often prevents these brothers and sisters from knowing
the richness and gifts of the Church.”
Church called to be a 'fisher' of humanity
Too often, he continued, in searching for happiness and
meaning in their lives, they end up relying on “false footholds” based on
illusory lifestyles often promoted by modern media – potentially good means
that can “prove harmful when used to convey misleading messages.”
The Church, on the other hand, is called precisely to be a
“‘fisher’ of humanity, to save it from the waters of evil and death through an
encounter with Christ.”
Faith, the Pope said, “is primarily a response to Christ’s
love,” and encounter with a person. Too often, he lamented, Christians have
forgotten this truth, and presented Christianity as a set of rules, “a
moralistic, burdensome, and unappealing tradition.”
While it is primarily the responsibility of Bishops “to cast
their nets into the sea and become ‘fishers of families’,” the lay faithful,
too, are called to participate in this mission, becoming fishers of couples,
young people, and men and women of every age and circumstance, so that all may
encounter Jesus.
“I ask you, then,” the Pope said, “to join in the work of
the whole Church in seeking out those who no longer come to us, in learning how
to walk with them and to help them embrace the faith, and become, in turn,
‘fishers’ of other families.”
He encouraged the faithful not to be discouraged but to be
open to “new ways of seeing things and different ways of acting,” which are
necessary to respond to the challenges of each new generation.
After thanking participants for their work, Pope Leo prayed
that the Holy Spirit would guide them in their discernment as they strive to
support and promote the Church’s ministry to families.
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