Mass for Families (1 July 1980)

On Tuesday, 1 July 1980, the Holy Father celebrated Mass for families in “Aterro do Flamengo”, Rio de Janeiro. In his homily, the Pope prayed God that the family spirit of Brazilians, strengthened by the Eucharist, might never weaken or disappear. 

Dearest brother, Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, and his auxiliary bishops;
Dear children, inhabitants of this marvelous city;
Dear children, who have come from other parts of Brazil for this meeting:

1. Many of those who now participate in this Eucharist will be evoking in the memory of their hearts other Masses celebrated in this same place, in July 1955. The 35th International Eucharistic Congress was celebrated and, on a strip of land conquered from the sea, hands of artists had raised the altar-monument, on which the Pontifical Legate would inaugurate and close the great event. The voice of my immortal Predecessor Pius XII resounded here with a message of peace for a million people gathered here.

I cannot stop remembering, precisely me, that twenty-fifth anniversary, happy to be able to do it with you and among you, at the moment when you are preparing for the already imminent X National Eucharistic Congress of Fortaleza. God willing that those events remembered, experienced, expected, renew your thanksgiving to the Lord; and that you know how to express it in thanksgiving by definition and par excellence, which is the Eucharist, in whose devotion he will help you grow.

2. A priest —be it the Pope, a bishop or a priest from the interior— when celebrating the Eucharist, a Christian when participating in the Mass and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, cannot help but be engulfed in the wonders of this sacrament. There are so many dimensions that can be considered in it: it is the sacrifice of Christ that is mysteriously renewed; they are the bread and the wine transformed, transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of the Lord; it is the grace that is communicated by this spiritual nourishment to the soul of the Christian... I want, on this occasion, to focus on a no less significant aspect: the Eucharist is a family reunion, of the great family of Christians.

The Lord Jesus wanted to institute this great sacrament on the occasion of an important family gathering, the Paschal Dinner, in which his family were the Twelve, who had lived with him for three years. For a long time, at the beginning of the Church, it was in family homes where other families met for the "breaking of bread". Each altar will always be a table, around which a more or less numerous family of brothers gathers. The Eucharist at the same time unites this family, manifests it in the eyes of all, tightens the ties that unite its members with others. Saint Augustine had all this in mind when he called the Eucharist "sacramentum pietatis, signum unitatis, vinculum caritatis" (In Ioannis Evang. Tract. XXVI, cap. 6, no. 13; PL 35, 1613).

As I celebrate this Eucharist, I spiritually turn my eyes to all points of this immense country, I try to encompass with a single glance the one hundred and twenty million Brazilians and I pray for the immense family made up of all the children of this country and for those who found here a new home.

3. Can I make you a confidence? The first time they spoke to me about Brazil, when I knew very little about this country, it was not to praise its natural beauties, which are wonderful, nor to exalt the riches of its soil and its subsoil, which are inexhaustible; nor to highlight the facts of this or that important Brazilian. Whoever spoke to me —and he was a great connoisseur of Brazil— only told me that this was a great nation, despite all its possible problems, because all races meet here, people from all over the world, gathered in a single people, without prejudice and without discrimination or segregation, in a clear fusion of spirits and hearts. "It's a family," said my interlocutor delighted.

I ask God that this family spirit never weaken or disappear. May he prevail over any germ of discord or division, over any threat of rupture or separation. I pray that, as there are fewer and fewer differences between Brazilians in terms of progress and well-being, opportunities in the face of the assets of culture and civilization and the chances of finding decent work, having health and education, educating the children, the "great family" of Brazilians that my first teacher in Brazil spoke to me about becomes more and more a reality. I also pray that to a world often dominated by strife between peoples and races, Brazil can give —without ostentation, rather with the spontaneity and naturalness that characterize its people— an essential lesson. that of true integration: that of how they can live as a single family, within a country-continent, people coming from the most diverse corners of the world. And I pray, finally, for the members of that "great family" who rest under this monument and whose sacrifice is a permanent call to union among peoples.

4. This Eucharist, family reunion, now leads me to think of Brazilian families.

The most authoritative reports on Latin America —I am thinking of the Medellín and Puebla Documents, I am thinking of the reports that come to me from the bishops and Episcopal Conferences of this semi-continent, but I am also thinking of the most serious sociological studies— have taught that for you, Latin Americans, the family is an extraordinarily important reality. The place that the family occupied in the peoples that are at the root of your nations and the Latin American influence that it exercised in the formation of your culture more than justify this importance. Brazil, far from being an exception, is a notable example of this reality. It is not surprising that here, with special vigor, the meaning of the family is manifested and the essential dimensions of the family reality are confirmed: respect full of love and tenderness, generosity and a spirit of solidarity, appreciation for a certain family intimacy, balanced by a desire for openness. I do not want to fail to underline, among others, two fundamental dimensions of the family, especially highlighted among you: the family has been, over the centuries, the great transmitter of cultural, ethical, spiritual values, from one generation to another; In the religious and Christian aspect, many times, when other channels were lacking or extremely precarious, she was the only, or at least the main channel through which the faith was communicated from parents to children through several generations. among others, two fundamental dimensions of the family, especially highlighted among you: the family has been, over the centuries, the great transmitter of cultural, ethical, spiritual values, from one generation to another; In the religious and Christian aspect, many times, when other channels were lacking or extremely precarious, she was the only, or at least the main channel through which the faith was communicated from parents to children through several generations. among others, two fundamental dimensions of the family, especially highlighted among you: the family has been, over the centuries, the great transmitter of cultural, ethical, spiritual values, from one generation to another; In the religious and Christian aspect, many times, when other channels were lacking or extremely precarious, she was the only, or at least the main channel through which the faith was communicated from parents to children through several generations.

5. Given this, how can you close your eyes to the serious situations in which numerous families among you find themselves concretely and to the serious threats that weigh on the family in general?

Some of these threats are of a social order and include the subhuman conditions of housing, hygiene, health, education in which millions of families find themselves, in the interior of the country and on the outskirts of large cities, due to unemployment or insufficient wages. Others are of a moral order and refer to the widespread disintegration of the family, due to ignorance, disregard or lack of respect for human and Christian norms relating to the family, at various levels of the population. Others are still of a civil order, linked to the legislation referring to the family. Throughout the world, such legislation is becoming more permissive and therefore less encouraging to those who strive to follow the principles of a higher family ethic. Please God that this does not happen in your country and that, coherent with the Christian principles that inspire your culture, those who have the responsibility of elaborating and promulgating laws do so with respect for the irreplaceable values ​​of a Christian ethic, among which stands out the value of human life and the indisputable right of parents to transmit life. Finally, other threats are of a religious nature and derive from a scant knowledge of the sacramental dimensions of marriage in God's plan.

6. The considerations that I have been making seem to me to show the importance and the need for an intelligent, courageous and persevering family ministry. Speaking to the people of the city of Puebla, in the homily for the unforgettable Mass that I celebrated there , I recalled that many Latin American bishops do not hesitate to acknowledge that the Church still has much to do in this field. For this very reason, when inaugurating the Puebla ConferenceI wanted to recommend family ministry as an important priority in all your countries. The Puebla Document devoted an important chapter to the family: God willing that attention to other topics and information, undoubtedly important but not exclusive, of that Document, does not mean, due to an error that we would have reason to regret in the future, less attention to the pastoral care of the family.

There are many fields and complex demands for this family ministry. Your Pastors are aware of this. Many lay people, engaged in various, valuable and meritorious family Movements, are attentive to these fields and these demands. Certainly do not expect the Pope to address them here; this is not the time to do it. However, how can we not remember, at least to quote them, some of the most important points of that pastoral?

I am thinking of everything that needs to be done in the field of preparation for marriage, certainly in the period preceding its celebration, but also, of course, from the years of adolescence — in the family, in the Church, in school—, in the form of a serious, broad and deep education for true love, which is much more demanding than the much-vaunted sex education. I think of the generous and courageous effort that must be made to create in society an environment conducive to the realization of a Christian family ideal, based on the values ​​of unity, fidelity, indissolubility, responsible fertility. I think of the help that should be given to spouses who, for various reasons and circumstances, go through moments of crisis, which they could overcome if they were helped, but perhaps they will shipwreck if they lack that help. I am thinking of the contribution that Christians, especially the laity, can offer to encourage a social policy sensitive to the demands and values ​​of the family and to avoid legislation that is harmful to the stability and balance of the family. Finally, I am thinking of the immeasurable value of a family spirituality, which must continually be perfected, promoted, disseminated; and I cannot fail to say here, once again, a word of encouragement and encouragement for the family Movements that are dedicated to this especially important work. in the immeasurable value of a family spirituality, which must continually be perfected, promoted, disseminated; and I cannot fail to say here, once again, a word of encouragement and encouragement for the family Movements that are dedicated to this especially important work. in the immeasurable value of a family spirituality, which must continually be perfected, promoted, disseminated; and I cannot fail to say here, once again, a word of encouragement and encouragement for the family Movements that are dedicated to this especially important work.

7. There is no lack in the experience and in the Magisterium of the Church of very valid elements for a clear, comprehensive, courageous pastoral attention to families. My predecessors bequeathed us valuable documents. Many Pastors and theologians have offered us the fruit of their experience or their reflections. In the near future, the Synod of Bishops, studying "the function of the Christian family" in the contemporary world, will certainly give clues for orientation in this delicate matter. From that source —and not on the margin or far from it and even less in contrast to it— he must drink a true family pastoral.

Numerous families, especially Christian spouses, desire and ask for certain criteria that will help them to live, even in the face of unusual difficulties and with sometimes heroic effort, their Christian ideal in terms of fidelity, fertility, and the education of children. No one has the right to betray that expectation or disappoint this request, hiding the true criteria out of shyness, insecurity or false human respect or offering dubious criteria, when not openly deviating from the teaching of Jesus Christ transmitted by the Church.

8. Brothers and dear children: at the end of this reflection let us turn our attention to the texts of the New Testament, which we have had the joy of listening to in this liturgy.

One of them, that of the Gospel of Saint John, includes the teaching of Jesus in the Capernaum synagogue on the Bread of Life; That bread, as the Lord assures, is his own flesh which, made food for his disciples, gives them a life that begins here on earth and ends in eternity. The promise made in Capernaum is fully realized in the Last Supper and in the mystery of the Eucharist. That is the bread that becomes the Body of Christ to give life to men.

The most intimate and lively desire of the Pope at this hour would be to be able, by some miracle, to enter every home in Brazil, to be a guest of every Brazilian family. Participate in the happiness of happy families and with them give thanks to the Lord. Being together with the families who cry, for some hidden or visible suffering, to offer eventual comfort. Talk to families in which nothing is missing, to invite them to distribute what is left over and that belongs to those who do not have it. Sitting at the table of poor families, where bread is scarce, to help them, not to become rich in the sense in which the Gospel condemns wealth, but to gain what is necessary for a dignified life.

If this is an impossible desire, I want at least, when I take in my hands, in a few moments, the Body of Jesus and his precious Blood, to formulate a vow and a prayer: that this Eucharist celebrated in this temple without borders under the dome of this sky of Rio de Janeiro, much larger and grander than that of Michelangelo, become a source of true life for the Brazilian people so that it may be a true family, and for each Brazilian family so that it may be a formative cell of this town.

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