The Holy Family and the holiness of families

Another post transferred from Cahiers=notebooks . . .

In his Angelus address yesterday, marking the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Holy Father, speaking in Spanish, said: "Contemplating the mystery of the Son of God who came into the world surrounded by the affection of Mary and Joseph, I urge Christian families to experience the loving presence of the Lord in their life. At the same time I urged them to bear witness before the world of the beauty of human love, marriage and family, finding inspiration in Christ’s love for mankind. Based on an indissoluble union between a man and a woman, it [the family] constitutes the privileged sphere in which human life is welcomed and protected, from its beginning to its natural end."

The Holy Father spoke these words in Spanish because his remarks were carried, via satellite, to La Plaza de Colon in Madrid, Spain, where a meeting and celebration of the family, sponsored by the Spanish bishops' conference, was being held. 1.5 million people attended to bear witness to the family defined as a man, a woman, and their children. The meeting also sought to assert the responsibility of parents in the education of their children and the absolute need for the state society to support the family as an institution in which children and the elderly are welcomed. Every Spanish diocese and Church movement was represented at this celebration.

AsiaNews has wonderful summary of this important Pontifical address.