Holy Mass for Families (5 March 1983)

On Saturday, 5 March 1983, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for Families in the Panama City Military Airport “Albrook Fields.” In his homily, the Pope spoke on marriage and the family.

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, Beloved brothers and sisters,

1. Grace and peace to you! With these words of Saint Paul, I greet in the love of Christ the Pastor of the local Church who welcomes me today, the other brother Bishops and all the People of God gathered in this place or spiritually present here.

The celebration of the Eucharist today brings together so many Christian families from Panama, which also represent those from other Central American countries, Belize and Haiti. I come to them, on this Apostolic pilgrimage, to proclaim the Good News of God's plan for the family, which is of so much interest to the Church and society.

Each Eucharist renews this covenant of love between Christ and his Church, which Saint Paul indicates as a model of the conjugal love of Christians (cf. Eph . 5, 25, 29, 32). In this Mass, which perhaps reminds you of your wedding day, I would like you to renew your promise of mutual fidelity in the grace of Christian marriage.

2. The marriage alliance is a mystery of profound transcendence; It is a project originating from the Creator, entrusted to fragile human freedom.

Reading the book of Genesis ideally led us to the source of the mystery of life and conjugal love: "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness... God created man in His own image, He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female" ( Gen. 1, 26-27).

God creates man and woman as His image, and engraves in them the mystery of the fruitful love that has its origin in God himself. Sexual difference allows for complementarity and fruitful communion of people: "Grow and multiply, fill and dominate the earth" ( Gen. 1, 28).

God trusted man; he gave him the sources of life; He called men and women to collaborate in his creative work. He forever engraved in human consciousness his desire for fertility within the framework of an exclusive and stable union: "For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife; and the two will become one flesh" ( Gen. , 2, 24).

3. The words of the Lord that we have just read in the Gospel confirm the Creator's original blessing on marriage: "Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ... Well then, what God has joined together, man does not separate" ( Mt 19:5-6).

This teaching of the Master regarding marriage was accepted by the first Christian community as a commitment of fidelity to Christ in the midst of the deviations of a pagan world. Jesus' formula is solemn and categorical: "What God has joined together, let no man separate" ( Mt 19:5-6). Words valid for every legitimate marriage contract, especially among Christians, for whom marriage is a sacrament.

What God has joined together, let no man separate. It cannot and should not separate civil authority from what God has kept secret. Spouses who, before the altar, contracted an irrevocable covenant of love, confirmed by God with sacramental grace, should not and cannot separate it.

3. In the will of Christ, reflected in his words, we must discover something more than an external law; in them is God's mysterious plan for the spouses. Marriage is a story of mutual love, a path of human and Christian maturity. Only through progressive self-revealing of people can a love relationship be consolidated that involves the entire life of the spouses.

The path is arduous, but not impossible. And the grace of marriage also includes the necessary help to overcome the inevitable difficulties. On the contrary, the rupture of the marriage covenant not only violates God's law, but blocks the process of maturity, the full realization of people.

Therefore, a certain mentality that infiltrates society and that encourages marital instability and selfishness, in favor of unconditional sexual freedom, is not acceptable.

The Christian love of spouses has its example in Christ, who gives himself completely to the Church, and is inscribed in his paschal mystery of death and resurrection, of loving sacrifice, of joy and hope.

Even when difficulties increase, the solution is not flight, the breakdown of the marriage, but the perseverance of the spouses. You know this from experience, dear husbands and wives: conjugal fidelity forms and perfects; reveals the energies of Christian love, creates a new family, with the newness of a love that has gone through death and resurrection; it is the crucible of a fully Christian relationship between spouses, who learn to love each other with the love of Christ; It is the guarantee of a stable environment for the formation and balance of children.

5. The Apostle Saint Paul reminded us of the source and model of this conjugal love, which becomes tenderness and reciprocal care on the part of the spouses: "This mystery is great; but I say it in relation to Christ and the Church As far as you are concerned, let each one of you also love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband ( Eph . 5:32-33).

With our gaze fixed on Christ, the affection of the spouses is strengthened in this mysterious economy of grace. "No one ever hates his own flesh; he nourishes it and cares for it as Christ does for His Church" ( Ps . 5:29). In this way, spouses learn to look at each other with true love, which translates into care, tenderness and attention for the other. They discover that each one is linked to God with a personal relationship, and both are related by the presence of Christ and by the grace of the Spirit to live for each other, in an economy of life that must be converted into dedication to the children and that must be path of holiness in the family. Therefore, in Christian antiquity this dimension of grace was already understood with the painting of the image of Christ among the wives.

6. However, this grace will not only be reflected within the family. It must be a source of apostolic fruitfulness. Yes, Christian spouses must open themselves to the task of evangelization in the specific field of the family. Acquired by experience, strengthened in communion with other families, they are evangelized and will become evangelizers of the Christian family, in reception centers, in drivers of social promotion.

To this end, care must be taken with care in the pastoral care of the family, in which couples provide generous and essential help to the pastors. There are multiple tasks to be carried out in this family pastoral, as I pointed out in Familiaris consortio (nos. 65-85).

The marriage spirituality movements and groups, which are numerous and active in these countries, and which I cordially encourage in their work, can greatly help in this task.

7. An important aspect of family life is the relationship between parents and children. In effect, the authority and obedience lived in the Christian family must be imbued with the love of Christ and oriented towards the fulfillment of people. Saint Paul summarizes it in a phrase dense with content: acting in the Lord (cf. Eph . 6:1-4), that is, according to His will, in His presence, as He presides over the domestic Church, which is the family (cf. Lumen gentium , 11). Only in the crucible of true love can the conflicts that arise between generations be overcome. In patience, in the search for truth, these complementary values ​​that each generation carries can be integrated.

To this end, families must not lack common prayer, according to the best traditions of your people, in order to constantly renew yourselves in the good and meaning of God. In this climate, the necessary vocations to the priesthood and religious life can flourish, which are a sign of blessing and predilection on the part of God.

8. Dear husbands and wives: Renew your promise of mutual fidelity in this Eucharist. I have assumed as a specific service in the Church the integral education of your children. Collaborate with your Bishops and priests in the evangelization of the family.

And always remember that the authentic Christian, even at the risk of becoming a "sign of contradiction", must know how to choose carefully the practical options that are in accordance with his faith. Therefore he must say no to the union that was not sanctified by marriage and to divorce; will say no to sterilization, especially if it is imposed on any person or ethnic group for false reasons; will say no to contraception and will say no to the crime of abortion that kills innocent people. The Christian believes in life and love. That is why he will say yes to the indissoluble love of marriage; yes to the life created responsibly in legitimate marriage; yes to the protection of life; yes to family stability; yes to legitimate coexistence that fosters communion and favors the balanced education of children, supported by paternal and maternal love that complement each other and take place in the formation of new men.

The Creator's yes, assumed by the children of God, is a yes to man.

It is born from faith in God's original project. It is an authentic contribution to the construction of a society in which the civilization of love prevails over selfish consumerism, the culture of life over capitulation in the face of death.

To the Virgin Our Lady, whom you simply and fervently call Saint Mary, I entrust your persons, your families; especially children and your patients. May She make your families a sanctuary of God, a home of Christian love, a bulwark of defense and dignity of life. So be it with the grace of the Lord and with my cordial Blessing.

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