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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Thought for the Day #69 - Saturday, May 23, 2020

“Pure Family Value”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Saturday brings me to think of the family. One of the lessons we can
take from this pandemic and reflect upon concerns the family. The family,
whose members have spent more time together than normal, has been called
to rediscover its own true worth, its value in itself. Its value is within itself. It
has value as a fundamental cell of society, it is valid as a cell of the Church, but
it also has worth just in itself. For members of a family, the human value which
sustains you, the human value that nourishes you is the family; it’s your family.

Let’s take steps to protect what you have rediscovered as so important in
your families, in your lives. Give yourselves time in this gradual re-opening,
to give yourselves the time so you don’t lose the gains you have made in this
time of pandemic. You enjoyed spending time together. There were moments,
yes, when it was more difficult, because we were not used to it and there were
of course human weaknesses and some volatility in our relationships, even in
our families; nevertheless you can see your families in a new light. This redis-
covery can last beyond the re-opening and an eventual return to “normal”;
although we don’t know exactly when. But the family, your family, will always
be there.

Another aspect of the family that has been studied is the family as a school
of humanity. In the school system we speak of the school at home as home-
schooling. But the family is already a school, a school of humanity. It is a school
where a child grows up learning what it is to be a human being. As parents, we
grow along with our children and together surpass ourselves, we learn first to
love the others. When we put love for the other first, we learn to be generous,
to have self-giving love. Family is the first place to learn this. It is with our
husbands, our wives, our parents, our children that we are called to learn to
love freely. How often are parents themselves astonished by the magnitude
of their love for their children? How often are parents surprised by the great-
ness, this depth, of the self-giving, freely given love when they love their
children and give themselves to them?

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 82