“His will be a judgment on love, a judgment which will definitively confirm the truth that the Bridegroom was with us, without perhaps our having been aware of it. The judge is the Bridegroom of the Church and of humanity. This is why he says, in passing his sentence: “Come, O blessed of my Father… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me” (Mt 25:34-36). This list could of course be lengthened, and countless other problems relevant to married and family life could be added. There we might very well find statements like: “I was an unborn child, and you welcomed me by letting me be born”; “I was an abandoned child, and you became my family”; “I was an orphan, and you adopted me and raised me as one of your own children”. Or again: “You helped mothers filled with uncertainty and exposed to wrongful pressure to welcome their unborn child and let it be born”; and “You helped large families and families in difficulty to look after and educate the children God gave them”. (John Paul II, Letter to Families #22)
- Prepare a meal, wash dishes, fold washing or vacuum for a family that has just welcomed a new baby or child (including those who have adopted, or are fostering).
Crusade for the Family Prayer
Mary, Mother of God, at your request, Jesus worked His first miracle. He changed water into wine for the wedding guests at Cana in Galilee. Over the centuries you have not ceased to obtain countless signs and wonders for the poor, exiled children of Eve. We therefore ask you to intercede with your Divine Son for the miraculous graces which the modern world so desperately needs:
- For the conversion and reconversion of whole nations to Jesus Christ and His teaching on marriage and the family.
- For the heroic preservation among Christians of their faith in the indissolubility of marriage, marital fidelity and the loving acceptance of children, as the bedrock of the Christian family.
- For the courage of martyrs in all of us followers of Christ, that we may witness to His power to overcome the powers of darkness that are bent on destroying the human family and the moral law.
Mary, Mother of the Holy Family, and mother of our families, pray for us. Amen.
(Fr John Hardon, SJ)