Father of all goodness, I thank you for this day that begins and for your warm presence, which for me is a source of joy, a joy nothing else can give. I offer you my day, in union with the Pope's Worldwide Network intentions. Our Father...
That any far-reaching decisions of economists and politicians may protect the family as one of the treasures of humanity.
People can authentically speak to the experience of growth in a family. In small yet steady increments over the years we grow with our brothers and sisters, as parents we are drawn out of ourselves and into the paradigm that is caring for our children. It offers us opportunities to grow deeper in our humanity, stronger in hope, and more richly in love than we can ever imagine.
Family is not a defined ideal but rather a mosaic made up if many different realities. Families often feel abandoned due to a lack of interest on the behalf of the State. This failure to support is often expressed in a tentativeness to welcome new life, in a tendency to see older persons as a burden, the poverty of loneliness and in an increase of extreme experiences within families.
The State in carrying out its responsibility to support a growing and evolving society should invest in the treasure that is family. Family is a core pillar of a local, national and global community; without it, we have nowhere to grow in love.
- Ronan Barry, extracted from Living Prayer