Pope Leo XIV this weekend praised recently canonized married couples such as Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, saying the Church’s recognition of them underscores that today’s world needs the witness of the marriage covenant to encounter God’s love and combat forces “that break down relationships and societies.”
“In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always,” Pope Leo said in the June 1 homily during Mass at the Vatican for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly.
He reflected on Christ’s prayer in the Gospel reading from John 17 that “they may become completely one” and spoke on how people are interdependent.
“Dear friends, we received life before we ever desired it,” Pope Leo said, noting that, as the late Pope Francis said in January, no one chooses to be born.
“Not only that. As soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived,” Pope Leo continued. “Someone else saved us by caring for us in body and spirit. All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care.”
But sometimes such kindness is betrayed, which causes deep wounds and even death. Pope Leo gave the example of “whenever freedom is invoked not to give life, but to take it away, not to help, but to hurt.”
However, amid such evil and disunity, Christ can bring healing, as He continues to pray to God the Father, the Pope said.
“His prayer acts as a balm for our wounds; it speaks to us of forgiveness and reconciliation,” Pope Leo said. “That prayer makes fully meaningful our experience of love for one another as parents, grandparents, sons and daughters. That is what we want to proclaim to the world: we are here in order to be ‘one’ as the Lord wants us to be ‘one,’ in our families and in those places where we live, work and study. Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life.”
If this love rooted in Christ is lived out, “we will be a sign of peace for everyone, in society and the world,” the Pope said. “Let us not forget: families are the cradle of the future of humanity.”
The beatification and canonizations of married couples, including the martyred Ulma family, the Martins – who were the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus – and Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, are all “a sign that fills us with joy but also makes us think,” Pope Leo said.
“By pointing to them as exemplary witnesses of married life,” Pope Leo said, “the Church tells us that today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love and to defeat, thanks to its unifying and reconciling power, the forces that break down relationships and societies.”
“For this reason,” he continued, “with a heart filled with gratitude and hope, I would remind all married couples that marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful (cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Humanae Vitae, 9). This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.”
The Pope urged parents to be examples of integrity to their children, to educate them virtuously and always see the good in their children. He encouraged them to nurture this goodness, adding, “And you, dear children, show gratitude to your parents.”
“To say ‘thank you’ each day for the gift of life and for all that comes with it is the first way to honour your father and your mother,” he continued, referencing the Ten Commandments.
“Finally, dear grandparents and elderly people, I recommend that you watch over your loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age,” he said. “In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.”
Concluding, Pope Leo said that Jesus’ prayer reminds the faithful “that one day we will all be uno unum: one in the one Savior, embraced by the eternal love of God.”
