Family, Be Who You Are!

The legacy of St. John Paul II on the family according to the 

apostolic exhortation, Familiaris consortio

When asked how he would like to be remembered, St. John Paul II humbly responded that if he was ever to be remembered, he would like to be remembered as the “Pope of the Family.” 

As a child, St. John Paul II lost his mother, and later his brother and father. By the time he was twenty years old, St. John Paul II found himself alone in a world burdened by war, persecution, and communism.[1] It was in the greater context of the family, in his Mother the Church, that by the power of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of our Blessed Mother, St. John Paul II came to understand himself as a son, a brother, and a father. He discovered and profoundly understood the dignity of each human being created in the image and likeness of God, made by love to love. St. John Paul II’s legacy proclaims the splendor and truth of humanity, whose future passes by way of the family.

The family is a “community of persons”[2], a community of love [3],  the first and vital cell of society [4], intimate community of life and love"[5], “the first school of those social virtues which every society needs”[6], the first and fundamental school of social living and the primary but not the only and exclusive educating community[7], the first and irreplaceable school of social life, […] marked by respect, justice, dialogue and love [8], a small-scale Church [9], a living and historical representation of the mystery of the Church [10], a symbol, witness and participant of the Church's motherhood [11].

The family is called to “reconciliation” [12], to “serve life” [13], "Another task for the family is to form persons in love and also to practice love in all its relationships, so that it does not live closed in on itself, but remains open to the community, moved by a sense of justice and concern for others, as well as by a consciousness of its responsibility towards the whole of society"[14]. Like the large-scale Church, to be a sign of unity for the world and in this way to exercise its prophetic role by bearing witness to the kingdom and peace of Christ, towards which the whole world is journeying [10] , called to enlighten "by its example and its witness...those who seek the truth.[14], called to be sanctified and to sanctify the ecclesial community and the world.[15]

      

   St. John Paul II understood that the family suffers the attacks of “numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it” being fully “aware that the well-being of society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family.”[16] Throughout his priestly life and papal magisterium, St. John Paul II urged the world to discover the “plan of God for marriage and the family, ensuring their full vitality and human and Christian development, and thus contributing to the renewal of society and of the People of God.” [17] The “Pope of the Family” loved the family, and embraced with mercy and truth humanity, inviting many to return home to their Mother the Church. He loved the family by “appreciate its values and capabilities, fostering them always”; "identifying the dangers and the evils that menace it, in order to overcome them”; "endeavoring to create for it an environment favorable for its development”; “[giving] it back its reasons for confidence in itself, in the riches that it possesses by nature and grace, and in the mission that God has entrusted to it.”[18] 

The third millennium resounds with the cry of St. John Paul II on October 20, 2001 

“Families, be who you are!”

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[1] Weigel, George. "The Church, the Collapse of Communism, and the Challenge of New Democracies." New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement, Jubilee Volume: The Wojtyla Years, edited by Polly Vedder, Gale, 2000, pp. 5-13. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=23009&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCX3407800013&it=r&asid=88806ef2eb72098fce90b5eccdaf0702.

[2] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981.18.

[3] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 37.

[4] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 42.

[5] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 50.

[6] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 36.

[7] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 40.

[8] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 43.

[9] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 48.

[10] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 49.

[11] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 49

[12] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 21

[13] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 28

[14]The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981.  64

[15] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 54

[16]The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981.  55

[17] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 3

[18] The Church Family in the Modern World, Familiaris consortio. John Paul II, November 22, 1981. 86.