Cardinal Farrell: “Forgive with the heart, always forgive”

"Forgive each other heartily in our families so that we may always start again with a free heart, without holding on to the offenses received"—with this hope, Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, spoke to the families gathered in Pompeii, on September 16th, at the end of the X Pilgrimage of Families for the Family promoted by the Renewal in the Holy Spirit.

"Never allow the joy of walking together as spouses and families to dwindle," he continued in his homily, emphasizing that "a great task awaits every Christian family at this time: being a place of hope where uninterested love, generosity, altruism, benevolence, and cure for the weakest continue to exist." The family, the Prefect continued, must be "a place where the young can receive a healthy and serene education that prepares them for life," where "faith is experienced and transmitted in a simple and authentic way," where "the elderly are listened to and respected" and where "every new life is welcomed with joy and respected in all its phases, even where it is marked by limits and illness."

There were many references to passages of Amoris Laetitia devoted to forgiveness and, in particular, the call to "not become unduly harsh with the failings of others," to keep in mind "that they have been forgiven by God" and that "failings that the Lord has forgiven in our lives are infinitely greater than those for which we can forgive others."

In this sense, "one's own freeing experience of having been fully understood and forgiven" is fundamental: otherwise, "blaming others turns into false relief." It is necessary to learn, recalled Card. Farrell, quoting Pope Francis, "We need to learn to pray over our past history, to accept ourselves, to learn how to live with our limitations, and even to forgive ourselves, in order to have this same attitude towards others." Finally, the Prefect has invoked the Mary's intercession so that all the families of the world "may never fail in their mission to become domestic churches" and "even in civil culture and institutions, never endanger the harmony and the solidity of Christian marriage and the family, by promoting values or unjust laws that are contrary to true human dignity."