Happy Family Day Weekend!

Happy Family Day Weekend!

As we celebrate Family Day Weekend, we reflect on the role of marriage and family in our life.   Why do marriage and family matter to you and me?  How do marriage and family affect you?

As the fifth child in a family of seven, I am very fortunate to have a loving father and mother who have both sacrificed their entire lives for the welfare of their children. As a priest, I attribute my priestly vocation to the loving union of my mother and father.  Indeed, their relationship has given me an example of God’s love and presence in my life.

In a very real way, family is rooted in marriage which is the relationship that brings about children who usually have to depend on the unique care and concern of a father and a mother.   Marriage has benefits which cannot be duplicated by any other relationship.  Marriage affects our social and public life, especially in terms of procreation and the care and education of children.

Marriage matters because God has ordained it to be an essential element of our faith journey. Our faith, guaranteed by our freedom of religion, supports marriage as a sacrament, that is, an expression of God’s love for all of us.

Indeed, the recent change concerning the legal definition of marriage (Bill C 38) is a “wake-up call” for the Christian community. And we have been in the recent past too complacent in the defending and promoting the importance and the sacredness of the institution of marriage. Many of our young people (and some not too young) know little about our Catholic understanding marriage and family, the Church’s teaching on sexuality and contraception, the importance of political engagement or our being “salt and light for the world”.

The celebration of Family Day weekend during this month of February presents itself as an opportunity to express our appreciation of the gift of marriage and family. Let us celebrate marriage and the family as a gift that God has given us for our peace and happiness.