The Pope's Most Important Advice to Your Family

In celebration of the Amoris Laetitia Family Year, Universitas republishes the texts of the “Executive Summaries,” one-page evangelization flyers initiated by Dr. Raul Nidoy, faculty member of UA&P, Director of Formation of Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF) and author of Jesus-Centered: Guide to the Happiest Life. The leaflets, which have been printed and shared thousands of times here and abroad, contain key points of Catholic doctrine on topics such as family and chastity, social responsibility, the foundations of the faith, and encountering Jesus. Schools, parishes, and organizations have used the leaflets as a tool for promoting Church teachings. The Executive Summaries can be downloaded here.

IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church.
The welfare of the family is decisive for the future of the world and that of the Church.

Don’t you realize that the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work available means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are big problems. (Interview on the document)

I. CHRIST AND THE FAMILY

Photo by gabriella clare marino on unsplash.

In and among families, the Gospel message should always resound; the core of that message, the kerygma [God loves us and is near us], is what is most beautiful, most excellent, most appealing and at the same time most necessary.
If a family is centered on Christ, he will unify and illumine its entire life.
Emphasis should be given to the importance of family spirituality, prayer and participation in the Sunday Eucharist, and couples encouraged to meet regularly to promote growth in their spiritual life and solidarity in the concrete demands of life.
It is essential that children actually see that, for their parents, prayer is something truly important.
A few minutes can be found each day to come together before the living God with a few simple words, this moment of prayer can do immense good for our families.
Many are touched by the power of grace experienced in sacramental Reconciliation and in the Eucharist, grace that helps them face the challenges of marriage and the family.
Every morning, on rising, we reaffirm before God our decision to be faithful, come what may in the course of the day.

II. LOVE AND MARRIAGE

It is important that marriage be seen as a matter of love, that only those who freely choose and love one another may marry. When love is merely physical attraction or a vague affection, spouses become particularly vulnerable once this affection wanes or physical attraction diminishes.
True love between husband and wife involves mutual self-giving, includes and integrates the sexual and affective dimensions.
Develop a routine that gives a healthy sense of closeness and stability through shared daily rituals. These could include a morning kiss, an evening blessing, waiting at the door to welcome each other home, taking trips together and sharing household chores.

There is growing danger represented by an extreme individualism which weakens family bonds.
The strength of the family lies in its capacity to love and to teach how to love. For all a family’s problems, it can always grow, beginning with love.
What really makes us important is a love that understands, shows concern, and embraces the weak.
Love is ever ready to be of assistance.

The spirituality of family love is made up of thousands of small but real gestures.

Persevere in a love strengthened by the virtues of generosity, commitment, fidelity and patience.
Our loved ones merit our complete attention.
Greater emphasis on personal communication between the spouses helps to make family life more humane.

III. PROCREATION AND CHILDREN

The word which appears most frequently in the Old Testament after the name of God, is “child”. Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward.
Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that children are a wonderful gift from God and a joy for parents and the Church. Through them, the Lord renews the world.
The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior. For this reason, fruitful love becomes a symbol of God’s inner life.
Responsible parenthood does not mean unlimited procreation or lack of awareness of what is involved in rearing children.
Large families are a joy for the Church.

IV. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

It is important to reiterate that the overall education of children is a “most serious duty” and at the same time a “primary right” of parents. This is not just a task or a burden, but an essential and inalienable right.
What is most important is the ability lovingly to help children grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy. Only in this way will children come to possess the wherewithal needed to fend for themselves.

Photo by Victoria Borodinova from Pexels.

Where are your children existentially: where they stand in terms of their convictions, goals, desires and dreams? Where is their soul?
It is important thing is to teach them sensitivity to different expressions of love, mutual concern.
Develop the habit of giving real importance to the other person.
It is important to train children firmly to ask forgiveness and to repair the harm done to others.
Distractions abound, including an addiction to television. This makes it all the more difficult for parents to hand on the faith to their children.
Photo by McKaela Taylor on Unsplash.
One of the most important tasks of families is to provide an education in hope. This does not mean preventing children from playing with electronic devices, but rather finding ways to help them develop their critical abilities. When children or adolescents are not helped to realize that some things have to be waited for, they can become obsessed with satisfying their immediate needs and develop the vice of “wanting it all now”. When we are taught to postpone some things until the right moment, we learn self-mastery and detachment from our impulses.
Sex education can only be seen within the broader framework of an education for love, for mutual self-giving. The sexual urge can be directed through a process of growth in self-knowledge and self-control capable of nurturing valuable capacities for joy and for loving encounter.
Show a person that it is in his own interest to do what is right. Today, it is less and less effective to demand something that calls for effort and sacrifice, without clearly pointing to the benefits which it can bring.
Strengthening of the will and the repetition of specific actions are the building blocks of moral conduct.
Help children view the world with the love of Jesus and who can understand life as a call to serve God.
Marriage preparation begins at birth… Those best prepared for marriage are probably those who learned what Christian marriage is from their own parents, who chose each other unconditionally and daily renew this decision.