Vatican City, 25 February 2014 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has written a letter to families asking them to pray for
the next Synod of Bishops, which will be celebrated in the Vatican in
October, and the theme of which will be “The pastoral challenges of
the family in the context of evangelisation”. The letter, dated 2
February, Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, is
published in full below:
“Dear families,
With this letter, I wish, as it were,
to come into your homes to speak about an event which will take place
at the Vatican this coming October. It is the Extraordinary General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which is being convened to discuss
the theme of “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of
evangelization”. Indeed, in our day the Church is called to
proclaim the Gospel by confronting the new and urgent pastoral needs
facing the family.
This important meeting will involve all
the People of God – bishops, priests, consecrated men and women,
and lay faithful of the particular Churches of the entire world –
all of whom are actively participating in preparations for the
meeting through practical suggestions and the crucial support of
prayer. Such support on your part, dear families, is especially
significant and more necessary than ever. This Synodal Assembly is
dedicated in a special way to you, to your vocation and mission in
the Church and in society; to the challenges of marriage, of family
life, of the education of children; and the role of the family in the
life of the Church. I ask you, therefore, to pray intensely to the
Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit may illumine the Synodal Fathers and
guide them in their important task. As you know, this Extraordinary
Synodal Assembly will be followed a year later by the Ordinary
Assembly, which will also have the family as its theme. In that
context, there will also be the World Meeting of Families due to take
place in Philadelphia in September 2015. May we all, then, pray
together so that through these events the Church will undertake a
true journey of discernment and adopt the necessary pastoral means to
help families face their present challenges with the light and
strength that comes from the Gospel.
I am writing this letter to you on the
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. The evangelist
Luke tells us that the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, in keeping
with the Law of Moses, took the Baby Jesus to the temple to offer him
to the Lord, and that an elderly man and woman, Simeon and Anna,
moved by the Holy Spirit, went to meet them and acknowledged Jesus as
the Messiah. Simeon took him in his arms and thanked God that he had
finally 'seen' salvation. Anna, despite her advanced age, found new
vigour and began to speak to everyone about the Baby. It is a
beautiful image: two young parents and two elderly people, brought
together by Jesus. He is the one who brings together and unites
generations! He is the inexhaustible font of that love which
overcomes every occasion of self-absorption, solitude, and sadness.
In your journey as a family, you share so many beautiful moments:
meals, rest, housework, leisure, prayer, trips and pilgrimages, and
times of mutual support… Nevertheless, if there is no love then
there is no joy, and authentic love comes to us from Jesus. He offers
us his word, which illuminates our path; he gives us the Bread of
life which sustains us on our journey.
Dear families, your prayer for the
Synod of Bishops will be a precious treasure which enriches the
Church. I thank you, and I ask you to pray also for me, so that I may
serve the People of God in truth and in love. May the protection of
the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph always accompany all of you and
help you to walk united in love and in caring for one another. I
willingly invoke on every family the blessing of the Lord.”