Family - The Domestic Church
This small extract n.49 from the Apostolic Exhortation "Familiaris Consortio" of Pope Saint John Paull II, does express in a wonderful way what our families are called to be. And it is a great way to start today's formation on the aspect of the Family as Church in miniature; a Domestic Church.
Our beloved Pope Paul VI used to say the Family possess all the features of the Church and therefore, would be inadequate, say that families they go to the Church because they are already Church at home. What a wonderful statement! Following last post about the Family of the Church, we want to complement our understanding of the Church of God as a family, recognizing our families as an extension of the former.
God himself is family and pure love. The Father is the Creator who loves; Jesus is the Son who is loved; and the Holy Spirit is the power, the love that gathers and bonds both father and son. The Holy Trinity is family, and since God had made us after his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27) we were made to be family as well.
That great and beautiful Family of Heaven has found its place on Earth to be in full when Jesus was incarnated and became flesh from the same flesh of Mary and had Saint Joseph as his adoptive father. The Holy Family of Nazareth is the perfect example of how our families should be. They should be imitated in every aspect for us to understand God's original plan for humanity: to be family.
THEY TEACH US, FIRST OF ALL, A FAMILY IS MADE OF A MAN AND WOMAN WITH THEIR CHILDREN. MARY IS THE PERFECT MOTHER. JOSEPH IS THE PERFECT FATHER. JESUS IS THE PERFECT SON. OHHHH IF EVERY MOM WAS LIKE OUR LADY, EVERY DAD WAS LIKE SAINT JOSEPH AND EVERY CHILD WAS LIKE JESUS...
Obviously the responsibility of building and fostering such image is over those who are called specifically for the vocation of the Matrimony: a man and woman called by God to fulfill their vocation to be happy, forming a new cell for the society, a new domestic church (in another time we will deepen our knowledge on the theme of vocation).
Today we are talking about a family who was already built and maybe need to either become what it was made to be or be back to be that again. Starting off with the fact that a family is made of individuals who are, before of anything else, called to life and to be family, our first and universal calling as human beings is to be holly like God is holly...
"Never speak sharply to a man older than yourself, but appeal to him as you would to your own father; treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers and young women as sisters with all propriety. Be considerate to widows -- if they really are widowed. If a widow has children or grandchildren, they are to learn first of all to do their duty to their own families and repay their debt to their parents, because this is what pleases God. But a woman who is really widowed and left on her own has set her hope on God and perseveres night and day in petitions and prayer. The one who thinks only of pleasure is already dead while she is still alive: instruct them in this, too, so that their lives may be blameless. ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LOOK AFTER HIS OWN RELATIONS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE LIVING WITH HIM, HAS REJECTED THE FAITH AND IS WORSE THAN AN UNBELIEVER." (1 Timothy 5:1-8)
Do you understand what Saint Paul is saying, so vividly today as it was 2000 years ago? Who doesn't care for their relations (parents, relatives, family) especially if they are living together, this person has rejected the faith and is worse than an atheist! We need to look after our families! That's the disgrace of the century, it's not depression: people are left all alone inside their own homes by their families who even consider themselves christians...
How many examples we see or hear about of young people committing suicide? How many people we know that felt in the vices of the modern era? People who are addicted to video games, pornography, sex, drugs, parties, orgies and all sorts of sins and aberrations... They are all human beings! They are all people who were left apart, forgotten, all alone and felt the need to fill their hearts with something else, since they DO NOT RECEIVE LOVE AND CARE from their very own families?
We know the steps and the path the world is leading us to beyond everything we need to face and deal with nowadays, but that wouldn't be much of worry if we had comfort, hope, love, care, faith and support inside our houses, if we simply had a domestic church in every home?
Fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, mainly the ones who have faith: LOOK AT YOUR HOME! What your home has become? What is it going to be? Where do you guys want to get fighting and being apart from each other? What are you trying to do, even when looking after God's things, you are not doing and living God's will for your life because you have left on the corner the original and main plan of God in your life?
It is incredible how nowadays there should be someone writing this kind of thing to remind people of God that they should be family inside their own houses and then they would be able to also be family in the Church!! People need to be reminded that if they don't look after or don't care the ones that are closer to them inside their own home, if they don't pray for them, don't be there when they need, if they don't offer help or support to them, it would be worthless doing that for others, because this is reject the faith!
If we were really a family and let God be in our lives, inside our homes and if we created a space to him, if we offered our homes and families to God and let him be the Lord of our houses, we would be able to celebrate with Saint John Paul II the great grace that is to be a Domestic Church, a extension of the Holy Catholic Church inside our homes...
THAT SHOULD BE FRUIT OF PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY MET AND HAD A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, ACCEPT THEIR OWN CALLING IN LIFE AND VOCATION AND ARE REAL CATHOLICS. THE FACT THEY LOVE JESUS SO MUCH AND LOVE HIS CHURCH AS WELL AND HAVE SPIRITUAL EYES LIKE JOSHUA HAD TO AFFIRM CATEGORICALLY...
"So now, fear Yahweh and serve him truly and sincerely; banish the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh. But if serving Yahweh seems a bad thing to you, today you must make up your minds whom you do mean to serve, whether the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now living. AS REGARDS MY FAMILY AND ME, WE SHALL SERVE YAHWEH." (Joshua 24:14-15)
That is to have and not neglect the faith! There is a need of courage and fearless wisdom to be able to go against fashion and what is considerate politically correct and care with God's interests for humanity! And be sure while you have this courage God look upon you with a big smile and bless your decision, your life, your family and your home and make it a holy place where he dwells. Be sure of that!
How beautiful is a family who pray together. They gather around about a couple of minutes to thank God for all the wonders of that day or to pray the rosary and ask for peace, for the graces that are necessary to overcome the difficulties of being family, of being a domestic church, of being a family that want to please and serve the Lord God.
That is to transform our families that could had been before place of hate or indifference into a place of love and example for others. By doing that, other families would be encouraged and pushed to do the same and by the spread of that good catholic spirit we would have a better society and better refuge for the ones who don't have a family and are in need.
That is nothing more nor nothing less but exactly what the Holy Father Pope Paul VI asked when he wrote to the families in the decree on the apostolate of the laity APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM...
'This mission-to be the first and vital cell of society - the family has received from God. It will fulfill this mission if it appears as the domestic sanctuary of the Church by reason of the mutual affection of its members and the prayer that they offer to God in common, if the whole family makes itself a part of the liturgical worship of the Church, and if it provides active hospitality and promotes justice and other good works for the service of all the brethren in need. Among the various activities of the family apostolate may be enumerated the following: the adoption of abandoned infants, hospitality to strangers, assistance in the operation of schools, helpful advice and material assistance for adolescents, help to engaged couples in preparing themselves better for marriage, catechetical work, support of married couples and families involved in material and moral crises, help for the aged not only by providing them with the necessities of life but also by obtaining for them a fair share of the benefits of an expanding economy.'
If you haven't seen yourself and your home like a place of refuge you still didn't understand what faith is all about, what serving God is all about, what being catholic is all about...
In order not to make this text too long, I want to end in here, sticking with the essential! A family is called by God to serve other families, like a refuge in desolation, like an extension of the Church and a miniature of it, like a sanctuary where people can find God and see Jesus lives there.
If you want to, you can join me in this prayer, offering your life, your home and your family to God, praying prophetically, asking the intercession of Our Lady and Saint Joseph that the power of Christ come upon us and reign, delivering us from every evil and keeping us safe in his love:
'Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God, I bow down in your holy presence and humiliate myself in here. You are my everything and I am nothing, I am not worthy to be in your presence, I am not worthy to call out your name but I need you Lord. I need you to come and change my life, change my heart, change my being. You have the power and I believe in you. I trust in your mercy and in your grace, and I ask you that your power be poured in my life, like it never have been before, and involve all I am and ought to be. I give myself entirely to you. You are my God. Take over all I am and do your will in me.
Jesus I also ask for you to do the same in my home and in my family. It seems to me that at times for my own fault, because I am not what I was supposed to, my family is made of people who are individuals and too much busy caring about their own needs that we don't have time to help or care for anyone else's. Lord Jesus pour your Holy Spirit in my house. Make it a sanctuary. Change our hearts and minds with your power and make us a real family, make us real Catholics, transform our home into a sanctuary and an extension of your Church. Pour your love in our hearts and fill every room and every spiritual and material area of my house with love. Fill every single small room and object with your grace and touch it, so everything in my home would be sacred. If that is your will that is my will also Lord.
Blessed be your name forever. Glory and praise, worship and adoration to you God above all, Lord and Master. I want to declare and release this prophecy: IN REGARDS TO US, ME AND MY FAMILY WILL SERVE THE LORD. ME AND MY FAMILY WILL LIVE FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Amen. Hallelujah, Thank you very much Jesus.
Pray for us, oh Holy mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen!'
All men like good fathers and chiefs of their families have the deed of protect, give stability and provide with all care, spiritual and material needs. All women like good mothers are called to be the heart of every home, be the hand to raise who is sad and lift them with joy and hope. Together with sons and daughters and any other relatives, families are called to pray for their homes, pray for themselves, pray that God will grant them protection and life to the full.
"The truly capable woman -- who can find her? She is far beyond the price of pearls. Her husband's heart has confidence in her, from her he will derive no little profit. Advantage and not hurt she brings him all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax, she does her work with eager hands. She is like those merchant vessels, bringing her food from far away. She gets up while it is still dark giving her household their food, giving orders to her serving girls. She sets her mind on a field, then she buys it; with that her hands have earned she plants a vineyard. She puts her back into her work and shows how strong her arms can be. She knows that her affairs are going well; her lamp does not go out at night. She sets her hands to the distaff, her fingers grasp the spindle. She holds out her hands to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy. Snow may come, she has no fears for her household, with all her servants warmly clothed. She makes her own quilts, she is dressed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gates, taking his seat among the elders of the land. She weaves materials and sells them, she supplies the merchant with sashes. She is clothed in strength and dignity, she can laugh at the day to come. When she opens her mouth, she does so wisely; on her tongue is kingly instruction. She keeps good watch on the conduct of her household, no bread of idleness for her. Her children stand up and proclaim her blessed, her husband, too, sings her praises. 'Many women have done admirable things, but you surpass them all!' Charm is deceitful, and beauty empty; the woman who fears Yahweh is the one to praise. Give her a share in what her hand have worked for, and let her works tell her praises at the city gates." (The Proverbs 31:10-31)
May God bless our families, men, women and children, to be his Domestic Church!
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