Benedict XVI urges families to place Christ at center of their homes

Torreciudad, Spain, Sep 14, 2010 / 16:01 pm

In a message sent to families participating in the 21st Marian Day of the Family in the Spanish city of Torreciudad, Pope Benedict XVI call on the faithful to “put the love of Christ at the center of the home.”

The Holy Father encouraged spouses to “offer the joyful testimony of a family life characterized by faith, prayer to God and the seeking of each family member’s well being.”

During Mass, Archbishop Jesus Sanz Montes of Oviedo said, “God wished to begin his human adventure as we begin ours: in the heart of a family.” For this reason, he said, “The Holy Family is the most beautiful icon in which God himself draws close to us, becomes visible and one of us.”

The archbishop also referred to the importance of human life. “The Church wishes to lend her humble voice to say yes to life, to all life, because that life both whispers and shouts out God to us.”

“This is the Gospel of Life, and this is the precious contribution to our beloved world, to which we also belong, that our families can make in hope and joy with their human and Christian values,” the archbishop said.  “Be not afraid, proclaim to all the beauty and joy of trusting in God, and as a family in Him, cease not from building up his Kingdom,” he told the more than 15,000 in attendance.