General Intention for the Month of January

(January 2, 2009) Family. That the family may increasingly be a place of formation in charity, personal growth, and the transmission of the faith.
This month Pope Benedict XVI asks us to pray for families, that everywhere they may grow in love, truth, and faith. The Pope has in mind the 6th World Meeting of Families convening in Mexico City this month to affirm the family as the best place to learn Christian values. Pope Benedict cites charity as the first value one may learn at home. Children witness their parents' love for God, each other, all their children, friends, neighbors, and strangers. Children of loving parents emulate them not just because of their good example, but because they themselves have been nourished by love. Children from loving families grow up healthy in body, mind, and spirit. They are formed in such a way that they can be a light to the world. The Holy Father also mentions the "transmission of faith" in this prayer intention. Faith is always a gift of God, yet God uses families to inculcate children in the faith. Children learn faith when they see their parents acting in faith. They also learn faith when their parents speak about their beliefs. Parents who choose not to speak about faith for fear of hindering a child's free choice are doing the child no favors. We wouldn't withhold love from a child - why should we withhold faith? Recently the parents of the beloved St. Therese of the Child Jesus were beatified by the Church in recognition of their formation of their daughters, all five of whom entered religious life and became holy women. St. Monica, the mother of the great St. Augustine was also recognized as a saint for transmitting the faith to her son - doing so, famously, through the power of her prayers! As we study the scriptures we don't know much about the childhood years of Jesus, but St. Luke's Gospel tells us that he was obedient to his parents and "advanced in wisdom and age and favour before God and man" (Luke 2: 51-2). Even Jesus was formed in his values by his upbringing. The Holy Family is a model for all families. So we pray for families. Good families are the future of the Church, the hope of the world.