Fr. Salvador Gonzalez, OMI: “The Moment of the Family”

 By Fr. Salvador (Chava) Gonzalez, OMI                                                                                                    Click Here to Read the Reflection en Español

We are living very special moments as God’s family.

The visit of Pope Francis to our country shows that our times are opportune moments to make us aware about the importance of the family as the basic unit of society, as a prime location for education, as a promoter of development and peace and as environment Original for the transmission of the faith.

Unfortunately, in recent years, serious challenges and threats to the family have emerged.

First, a common thought has spread marked by materialism, selfishness and eroticism that affects the human capacity of each person to give generously to others in the home.

Added to this, as a result, the increasing numbers of infidelities, separations and divorces, as well as assaults and sexual crimes especially against children.

Because of all these unfortunate cases the number of marriages and of children being born has decreased.

Ideological attacks on the family have emerged y. As a result, the family loses its identity and mission.

The Catholic Church, aware of these risks, to which we must add situations of poverty, has become the defender of the family. Since 1983, the Holy See announced the Charter of Rights of the Family, which are related and establish rights that should be afforded to families that are not yet in force in some countries. Saint Pope John Paul II joined the celebration of the International Year of the Family in 1994 with the publication of the Letter to Families, which states that “the primordial model of the family is to be sought in God himself, in the Trinitarian mystery of their life”.

The family is the supreme work of creation. God, having created all things and animals, created the human being, male and female, in His image and likeness, so that they were generous in giving life.

This ineffable mystery manifested in the incarnation, when the Holy Family of Nazareth, icon becomes the sacrament of the Trinitarian Family. And it is also reflected in the Church, called to be the family of the children of God.

The family, based on marriage as a communion of life and true love between man and woman, is one of the most important values of humanity. The devaluation of the family unit threatens the perfection and happiness of human beings, the generation and education of children, the future and progress of society. If we had well-formed families we would overcome or would alleviate problems like these: early maternity, child abuse, school dropout, drug abuse, youth suicide and many forms of violence. Hence the urgent invitation to promote the family in the social, cultural, political and religious spheres.

To promote the Christian family is to promote an atmosphere of love.