Family is an Icon of God

In a new feature, messages from the Holy Father will be featured on a regular basis. These words of wisdom will include quotes from addresses by the Holy Father along with a link to learn more about the full text and context of the address.

This installment is excerpts taken from the Holy Father's address during the praying of the Angelus on the Feast of the Holy Family on December 27, 2009. The Gospel reading upon which part of his address is based on the account of the twelve-year-old Jesus remaining behind in the Temple unbeknownst to his parents.

"God wished to reveal Himself by being born in a human family, and hence the human family has become an icon of God."

"God is Trinity. He is communion of love, and the family - with all the difference that exists between the Mystery of God and His human creature - is an expression thereof which reflects the unfathomable mystery of God-Love. ... The human family is, in a certain sense, the icon of the Trinity because of the love between its members and the fruitfulness of that love."

"Jesus' decision to remain in the Temple was above all the fruit of his intimate relationship with the Father, but also the fruit of the education received from Mary and Joseph."

"Here we may catch a glimpse of the authentic meaning of Christian education. It is the result of a collaboration that must always be sought between the educators and God. The Christian family is aware that children are God's gift and project. Hence it cannot consider them as it own possessions but, serving God's plan through them, is called to educate them in the greatest of freedoms which is that of saying 'yes' to God in order to accomplish His will."

"God, by having come into the world in the bosom of a family, shows that this institution is a sure way to meet and know Him, and a permanent call to work for the loving unity of all people. Thus, one of the greatest services which we as Christians can offer our fellow men and women is to show them the serene and solid witness of a family founded upon marriage between a man and a woman, defending it and protecting it, because it is of supreme importance for the present and future of humankind."

"In truth, the family is the best school in which to learn to live the values that dignify individuals and make peoples great. There too sufferings and joys are shared, as everyone feels cloaked in the affection that reigns in the home by the mere fact of being members of the same family."

-- Sunday Angelus, December 27, 2009.

From VIS.