Schools of human development

The video of the Holy Father is an exhortation to take care of families, especially during the summertime, which is for many the most favourable period to share moments of dialogue and for a renewed meeting between parents and children and between spouses, within the common experiences of vacation.

The Holy Father asks us to pray, and to pray strongly, so that every family may become a true “school of human development”: a place of joy and harmony, of concern for one another, of observance of the time needed from everybody in order to better learn how to love. For this reason, it may be crucial to reserve a special place for individual and common prayer within our homes, so that the grace may work between the spouses, and between parents and children. Jesus does not go on holiday. He is always among us, patient and ready to stay with us as soon as we ask Him to do so. Let us welcome Him, so that we learn to welcome each other, and the family may become a beautiful reality, a feasible context where we may become able to “make plans forever”. Love, especially that which must be communicated to our children is a “trade” (cf. AL, 16) that requires witness, dedication, perseverance, and time spent together. After all, the essence of a solid life, built on truth and good, lies on the concrete experience to be and to feel loved. Let us help our children to make this kind of experience so that, with trust, as they grow up, they may build the future society on solid pillars.

In the video promoted by the “Worldwide Prayer Network” Pope Francis asks to pray so that families may increasingly become “laboratories of human development” thanks to a life of prayer and love. Finally, the exhortation to take care of families which are true “schools of the future, spaces of freedom and centres of humanity”.