A family that prays

This year Brazil’s National Family Week presents the theme “It is a time of jubilation in our life” and the motto “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

The biblical reflection echoes the Jubilee of Hope, rekindling in families their vocation and mission to bear witness to grace and to the gift of loving. In this vocational month, the Christian family opens paths of hope and new life to society and to the world.

Indeed, the family, as the cradle and source of life, becomes — as the Jubilee bull Spes non confundit puts it — an authentic and faithful sign of the hope that enlightens and inspires humanity, leading it to encounter the God of Life and of infinite Mercy. In this Jubilee, let us remember that if it is true that while there is life there is hope, it is also true that hope sustains and strengthens human life.

The family is a privileged and fruitful place of first evangelization, of encounter with the grace and tenderness of the God of the Covenant, who makes parents co-creators and mediators of the mystery of life.