our own day. I think of the elderly, abandoned even by their loved ones and
children; widows and widowers; the many men and women left by their spouses;
all
those who feel alone, misunderstood and unheard; migrants and refugees fleeing
from war and persecution; and those many young people who are victims of the
culture of consumerism, the culture of waste, the throwaway culture".
 "Today we experience the paradox of a globalised world filled with luxurious
mansions and skyscrapers, but a lessening of the warmth of homes and families;
many ambitious plans and projects, but little time to enjoy them... Our
experience today is, in some way, like that of Adam: so much power and at the
same time so much loneliness and vulnerability. The image of this is the
family.
People are less and less serious about building a solid and fruitful
relationship of love: in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, in
good times and in bad. Love which is lasting, faithful, conscientious, stable
and fruitful is increasingly looked down upon, viewed as a quaint relic of the
past".
 In the first reading we hear that God was pained by Adam's loneliness, and
resolved to make him a helper fit for him. "These words show that nothing makes
man's heart as happy as another heart like his own, a heart which loves him and
takes away his sense of being alone. These words also show that God did not
create us to live in sorrow or to be alone. He made men and women for
happiness,
to share their journey with someone who complements them, to live the wondrous
experience of love: to love and to be loved, and to see their love bear fruit
in
children, as today's Psalm says. This is God's dream for His beloved creation:
to see it fulfilled in the loving union between a man and a woman, rejoicing in
their shared journey, fruitful in their mutual gift of self".
 "What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder", said the
Pope, turning to the theme of the family. "This is an exhortation to believers
to overcome every form of individualism and legalism which conceals a narrow
self-centredness and a fear of accepting the true meaning of the couple and of
human sexuality in God's plan. Indeed, only in the light of the folly of the
gratuitousness of Jesus' paschal love will the folly of the gratuitousness of
an
exclusive and life-long conjugal love make sense".
 "For God, marriage is not some adolescent utopia, but a dream without which
his
creatures will be doomed to solitude", he continued. "Indeed, being afraid to
accept this plan paralyses the human heart. Paradoxically, people today - who
often ridicule this plan - continue to be attracted and fascinated by every
authentic love, by every steadfast love, by every fruitful love, by every
faithful and enduring love. We see people chase after fleeting loves while
dreaming of true love; they chase after carnal pleasures but desire total
self-giving".
 "In this extremely difficult social and marital context, the Church is called
to carry out her mission in fidelity, truth and love. To carry out her mission
in fidelity to her Master as a voice crying out in the desert, in defending
faithful love and encouraging the many families which live married life as an
experience which reveals of God's love; in defending the sacredness of life, of
every life; in defending the unity and indissolubility of the conjugal bond as
a
sign of God's grace and of the human person's ability to love seriously".
 "To carry out her mission in truth, which is not changed by passing fads or
popular opinions. The truth which protects individuals and humanity as a whole
from the temptation of self-centredness and from turning fruitful love into
sterile selfishness, faithful union into temporary bonds. ... To carry out her
mission in charity, not pointing a finger in judgement of others, but -
faithful
to her nature as a mother - conscious of her duty to seek out and care for
hurting couples with the balm of acceptance and mercy; to be a 'field hospital'
with doors wide open to whoever knocks in search of help and support".
 Francis recalled St. John Paul II who said: "Error and evil must always be
condemned and opposed; but the man who falls or who errs must be understood and
loved", and added "The Church must search out these persons, welcome and
accompany them, for a Church with closed doors betrays herself and her mission,
and, instead of being a bridge, becomes a roadblock: 'For He who sanctifies and
those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why He is not ashamed to
call them brethren'".
 "In this spirit", he concluded, "we ask the Lord to accompany us during the
Synod and to guide His Church, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin
Mary and St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse".

___________________________________________________________

 Society is not strong without the family
 Vatican City, September 2015 (VIS) - In today's Sunday Angelus the Pope again
asked the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for prayers for the Synod on
the Family inaugurated yesterday with Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
 "The Synod Fathers, from all over the world and gathered around St. Peter's
Successor will reflect during these three weeks on the vocation and the mission
of the Church in the Church and in society, for a careful spiritual and
pastoral
discernment. We will keep our gaze fixed on Jesus in order to find, on the
basis
of His teaching of truth and mercy, the most appropriate routes for adequate
commitment on the part of the Church, with families and for families, so that
the Creator's original plan for man and woman may be implemented and may
operate
in all its beauty and strength in today's world".
 In this sense, the reading of the Book of Genesis on complementarity and
reciprocity between the man and woman who unite and become one flesh, "that is,
one life, one existence", and in this way "transmit their life to new human
beings: they become parents. They participate in the creative power of God
Himself. But", he warned, "be careful! God is love, and one participates in His
work when one loves with and like Him. ... And this is also the love that is
given
to spouses in the Sacrament of marriage. It is the love that nurtures their
relationship, through joy and suffering, in moments of serenity and difficulty.
It is the love that awakens the desire to create children, to wait for them,
welcome them, raise them and educate them. It is the same love that, in today's
Gospel, Jesus reveals to the children: 'Let the children come to me, do not
prevent them'.
 "Today we ask the Lord that all parents and educators in the world, as in
society as a whole, are made instruments of that acceptance and love with which
Jesus embraces the little ones. He looks into their hearts with the tenderness
and care of a father and, at the same time, a mother. I think of so many
children that are hungry, abandoned, exploited, forced into the war, refused.
It
is painful to see images of children that are unhappy, looking lost, fleeing
from poverty and conflicts. They are knocking on our doors and our hearts
begging for help. May the Lord help us not to be a 'fortress-society,' but
rather a 'family-society' which welcomes - with the proper rules -but always
welcomes with love".
 The Pope concluded by invoking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for the
Synod
Fathers and the intercession of the Virgin Mary, uniting with those who today,
Italian Shrine of Pompeii, pray the traditional supplication to the Our Lady of
the Rosary.
 Following the Angelus, Francis mentioned the beatification yesterday in
Santander, Spain, of Pio Heredia and seventeen companions of the Cistercian
Order of the Strict Observance of St. Bernard, killed in hatred of the faith
during the Spanish civil war and the religious persecution of the 1930s. "Let
us
praise the Lord for their courageous witness, and with their intercession, let
us beg that He liberate the world from the scourge of war".
 He prayed for the victims of a landslide that swept away an entire village in
Guatemala, and of the flood in the Cote d'Azur in France, and urged concrete
acts of solidarity in their support. He also affectionately greeted Italian
pilgrims on the feast day of the their patron, St. Francis of Assisi.

___________________________________________________________

 Prayer Vigil for the Synod - the Church can light up the darkness of humanity
 Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - "When life proves difficult and
demanding,
we can be tempted to step back, turn away and withdraw, perhaps even in the
name
of prudence and realism, and thus flee the responsibility of doing our part as
best we can", said the Holy Father during his inauguration of the prayer vigil
for the Synod of Bishops, held during the night of Saturday 3 October.
Organised
by the Italian Episcopal Conference, large numbers of faithful and pilgrims
participated in St. Peter's Square.
 The Pope spoke about the human fear that the prophet Elijah experienced and
how
he got up and fled for his life, and recalled that "just a year ago, in this
same Square, we invoked the Holy Spirit and asked that - in discussing the
theme
of the family - the Synod Fathers might listen attentively to one another, with
their gaze fixed on Jesus, the definitive Word of the Father and the criterion
by which everything is to be measured. This evening, our prayer cannot be
otherwise. For as Patriarch Athenagoras Metropolitan Ignatius IV Hazim reminded
us, without the Holy Spirit God is far off, Christ remains in the past, the
Church becomes a mere organisation, authority becomes domination, mission
becomes propaganda, worship becomes mystique, Christian life the morality of
slaves".
 "Let us pray that the Synod which opens tomorrow will show how the experience
of marriage and family is rich and humanly fulfilling", he continued. "May the
Synod acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy
about that experience. May it embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship:
war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create
distress, resentment and separation. May it remind these families, and every
family, that the Gospel is always 'good news' which once again enables us to
start over. From the treasury of the Church's living tradition may the Fathers
draw words of comfort and hope for families called in our own day to build the
future of the ecclesial community and the city of man".
 The Pope emphasised that "every family is always a light, however faint, amid
the darkness of this world. Jesus' own human experience took shape in the heart
of a family, where he lived for thirty years. His family was like any number of
others, living in an obscure village on the outskirts of the Empire".
 He gave the example of Charles de Foucauld who "came to understand that we do

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