Vatican City, Apr 23, 2009 / 15:05 pm
Speaking to members of the organizing committee of the Sixth World Meeting of Families, Pope Benedict explained that families are schools of obedience – a virtue necessary in the world today.
The Holy Father spoke to the committee during a Mass in the Vatican’s Redemptoris Mater chapel on Thursday. In his homily, he commented on the reading from the Acts of the Apostles in which St. Peter affirms that "we must obey God rather than any human authority."
"The Word of God speaks to us of an obedience that is not mere subjection, nor simply an obeying of orders,” the Pope reflected, “rather it arises from an intimate communion with God and consists in an interior vision capable of discerning that which 'comes from on high' and 'is above everything.' It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which God grants without measure."
It is necessary that our contemporaries discover this essential obedience, he continued. “It means opting for specific forms of behavior which are based on obedience to God's will and which make us fully free.”
“Christian families, with their domestic, simple and joyful lives ... are schools of obedience and environments of true freedom,” Benedict XVI stated. “They know this well, those who over many years have enjoyed marriage in accordance with God's plan, experiencing the goodness of the Lord Who helps and encourages us."
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