Angelus Message on Family

JMJ+D

The Holy Father's Angelus message stressed the importance of praying for the family. The family is the first place from which vocations flow. Today's gospel speaks of the apostles being fishers of men. Let us pray fervently (even within our own family) for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

In the Diocese of Rome, a Week for Life and the Family begins today, an important occasion to pray and reflect on the family, which is the cradle of life and every vocation. We know very well how the family founded on matrimony constitutes the natural environment for the birth and education of children, and therefore, to insure the future of all humanity. But we also know how the family is marked by a profound crisis and must face multiple challenges today.

For all this, the family must be defended, helped, protected and valued in its
irrepeatable uniqueness. If this task falls primarily on married couples, it is also a priority obligation of the Church and of every public institution to sustain the family through pastoral and political initiativies which take into account the real needs of couples, of old people and of the new generations. A serene family atmosphere, enlightened by faith and the holy fear of God, also favors the budding and flowering of vocations in the service of the Gospel.

I refer, in particular, not only to those who are called to follow Christ in the priesthood, but also to all the religious and consecrated persons whom we remembered on Friday in the World Day for Consecrated Life.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray that through constant efforts in favor of life
and the family, our communities may be places of communion and hope where,
despite so many difficulties, we may renew the great Yes to authentic love and
to the reality of man and the family according to God's original plan. Let us
ask the Lord, through the intercession of the Most Blessed Mary, that respect
for the sacredness of life may grow, that there may always be awareness of the
true needs of families, and that there may be more and more who contribute to
realize a civilization of love in this world.

From Papa Ratzi