It is a great paradox of the modern society that the family as we used to know it, which formed the bedrock of our relationships is under heavy attack because of today’s culture of division that wants to break free from everlasting bonds and forms of solidarity.
Pope Francis said he believed:
- Bonds are being destroyed, instead of created. Why? Because we are living in a culture with the inability to make alliances.
- The Christian family and marriage have never been attacked as much as they are right now. The family is being beaten, and the family is bastardised and debased, since almost anything is being called a family.
- The family faces a crisis because it is being bludgeoned by all sides, leaving it very wounded.
- But there is also the problem of a culture that is shortsighted, where everything is temporary or “provisional”, and “forever has been forgotten”.
- Couples living together “part time” Monday to Friday “with my
girlfriend” and “Friday to Sunday with my family”. They are new forms totally destructive and limiting of the greatness of the love of “marriage”.
This breakdown of the family, especially through separations and divorces, is bringing about complex situations that do not impact positively on the society, with children growing up emotionally and morally stunted.
How can families be helped to cope with these challenges? For the Pope, there is no other choice than to go to the family’s aid and give them personal help. We can give a nice speech, declare principles. Of course we need to do this, with clear ideas and statements saying that unions that do not reflect God’s plan of a permanent union between a man and a woman are forms of an association, not a marriage.
But people must also be “accompanied” and this also means wasting time. The greatest master of wasting time is Jesus. He wasted time accompanying, to help consciences mature, to heal the wounds, to teach,” he says.
The sacrament of matrimony is becoming just a ceremony or social event for some people, who do not see its sacramental nature as a union with God. Part of the problem is lack of formation for engaged couples and this is a sin of omission on our part.
According to his Holiness what is needed is a Church and Christians who are willing to “waste time” on people, not just principles, and accompany face-to-face those needing to discover the truth in Jesus Christ. By doing so, we can revive the great institution of marriage and family life.