“So
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them. And God blessed them. And God said
to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
–Genesis 1:27-28 (ESV).
Pope
Francis in his tour of America this week participated in a mammoth
“Festival of Families” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September
26, 2015. In his address before the masses of people, and following
the six testimonials by family members who shared their family and
spiritual journeys, Pope Frances said in his homily, “The family is
the furnace of hope.”
He
encouraged families to remember how God the Creator provided for the
family in the Creation and told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and
multiply. The family was the very first institution on earth. Imagine
the beauty and exhilaration of that first dwelling place, Eden, a
place made especially for the family God had created. All was well
until temptation came and Adam and Eve succumbed to the deceit of
Satan. Their wrong decision cost them their residence in Eden. And
ever after, man has subsisted by toil troubled by the conditions
initiated by wrong choices and the presence of evil in his nature.
But
hope came—for individuals and for the family unit—when Jesus
Christ came to earth to provide the propitiation for man’s sin.
Pope Francis painted a good picture of the family unit when he said,
“The family is the furnace of hope.” Paul wrote: “Therefore
be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ
loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2).
Paul
further in Ephesians wrote of Christ, the head of the church, as the
bridegroom, and the church (believers) as the bride. This analogy
shows the sacredness of the marriage relationship and the importance
of keeping vows intact and family as a foremost institution of God’s
intention for man and woman, His highest creation. Therefore,
“Husbands, love you wives, as Christ loved the church and gave
Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her
by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the
church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way
husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves
his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because
we are members of His body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to
Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as
himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
–Ephesians 5:25-33 (ESV).
Families
are in grave danger today. Divorce rates are astronomical. Let us
reconsider the sacredness of the marriage vows and the mission God
intended for the family. We need furnaces of hope where the light of
God’s love ignites holy teaching, holy living and holy commitment
to the values and solidarity of the family. Pray that in your family
this may be your personal mission. -Ethelene Dyer Jones -09.27.2015
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