The Pope begins chapter one of Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), his apostolic exhortion on the family, with his reflections on the Holy Scriptures, which unfolds as a meditation on Psalm 128 (which appears in the Jewish wedding liturgy as well as that of Christian marriages). The Bible “is full of families, births, love stories and family crises,” he begins. This tells us to reflect on how the family, not as an utopian institution, but one that has been confronted from the very beginning with sin, division, hatred when the relationship of love is soured by domination. Hence, the Word of God “is not a series of abstract ideas but rather a source of comfort and companionship for every family that experiences difficulties or suffering. For it shows them the goal of their journey…”
Yet from the inception there was love between the husband and the woman. According to the Pope, this idyllic picture of the family is the embodiment of the primordial divine plan clearly spoken of by Christ himself: “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female?” (Mt 19:4). We hear an echo of the command found in the Book of Genesis: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:24).”
The Pope then makes the case for the creation of male and female based on the clear statements that may be drawn from the Book of Genesis. The first, he explains, which Jesus para- phrases, says that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (1:27). It is striking that the “image of God” here refers to the couple, “male and female.” He then asks the rhetorical question: Does this mean that sex is a property of God himself, or that God has a divine female companion, as some ancient religions held? He emphatically answers the question in the negative for the reason that the Bible rejects as idolatrous such beliefs, found among the Canaanites of the Holy Land. God’s transcendence is preserved, yet inasmuch as he is also the Creator, the fruitfulness of the human couple is a living and effective “image,” a visible sign of his creative act.
He extols the couple who begets life for, according to him, it is like a true, living icon—not an idol like those of stone or gold prohibited by the Decalogue—capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior. By way of analogy, the couple’s fruitful relationship becomes an image for understanding and describing the mystery of God himself, for in the Christian vision of the Trinity, God is contemplated as Father, Son and Spirit of love. The triune God is a communion of love, and the family is its living reflection.
If the parents are in some sense the foundations of the home, the children are like the “living stones” of the family, the Pope writes. On the importance of children to a family, he says that the presence of children is a sign of the continuity of the family throughout salvation history, from generation to generation. In other instances in the bible, he points out that the family is the place where children are brought up in the faith. As such, parents have a serious responsibility for this work of education. He then reminds us that children are not the property of a family, but have their own lives to lead. He cites the example of Jesus as a model of obedience to his earthly parents, placing himself under their charge (cf. Lk 2:51). But he also warns that children’s life decisions and their Christian vocation may demand a parting for the sake of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mt 10:34-37; Lk 9:5962) as what Jesus himself, at twelve years of age, tells Mary and Joseph that he has a greater mission to accomplish apart from his earthly family.
Yet the idyllic picture presented in Psalm 128 is not at odds with a bitter truth found throughout sacred Scripture, that is, the presence of pain, evil and violence that break up families and their communion of life and love, the Pope says. And this thread of suffering and bloodshed runs through numerous pages of the Bible, beginning with Cain’s murder of his brother Abel. In all of these, we can see that the word of God is not a series of abstract ideas but rather a source of comfort and companionship for every family that experiences difficulties or suffering.
In the end, the Pope extols the importance of labor which makes possible the development of society and provides for the sustenance, stability and fruitfulness of one’s family. This being said, we can appreciate the suffering created by unemployment and the lack of steady work. Yet in the midst of all these sufferings, Christ proposed as the distinctive sign of his disciples the law of love and the gift of self for others, the Pope writes. He then exhorts every family to look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Its daily life had its share of burdens and even nightmares, as when they met with Herod’s implacable violence. This last was an experience that, sad to say, continues to afflict the many refugee families who in our day feel rejected and helpless, he laments.
In the light of the Word, in the example of the Holy Family’s fidelity before their own exile, journeys, struggles and suffering, today’s families can find also consolation and hope.
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