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Intention

Families were ordained by God from the beginning as a conduit of grace

Scripture

“This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” – Genesis 2:23

Reflection

God is Love, and God is Triune in nature. Augustine contemplated this profound mystery of three Persons so unified that They are truly one God.

He tried to express the concept as such: the eternal love of the Father and the Son is so strong that a third Person, the Holy Spirit, proceeds from God the Father and God the Son. We proclaim this in the Nicene Creed.

The family is a mirror of the communal nature of God. In the family, father and mother come together in the marital embrace and a new person is born.

Of course, this is an imperfect analogy for the mystery of the Holy Trinity, as all three Persons are co-eternal. But from the beginning of creation, God provided that the human race would be perpetuated through the fruitfulness of married couples, and for many Christians, the family is the cradle of faith, the means by which we first come to know God, and by which we share our love for God with the next generation.

A sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace. It is a sacred oath, a covenant. John Paul II wrote in The Theology of the Body that marriage is the primordial sacrament, a visible sign of God’s love and favour.

Through marriage, God allows us to join Him in His ongoing work of creation, which flows from His creative love. Procreation forms the family, an extended sacrament, producing an increase of God’s grace, which is His love. Humans are made by love and for love; we are created in the image and likeness of God.

God chose to be born into a human family, and from that humble family Jesus set out on His salvific mission; on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit created the Church, wherein we are the adopted sons and daughters of God, invited to participate in His divine life.

In today’s fallen world, families are all too often the means of destruction instead of loving creation. Sin and illness disfigure the face of God in each of us; we who are pleasant to friends and strangers often hurt those closest to us. We feel that they will not abandon us when we are mean to them, so we are careless with our words.

Familiarity breeds contempt, and, all too easily, we magnify the faults of our family members, forgetting their virtues, which we take for granted.

Mother Teresa said in her 1984 Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

“My prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and from the foot of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor it is Christ. And we will really believe, we will begin to love. And we will love naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, next door neighbour in the country we live, (then) in the whole world.”

Charity begins at home, and charity begins with prayer, a loving conversation with God. The more time we spend in God’s presence, the easier it is to see His face in those around us, and to show His grace to them.

May our families grow in virtue so as to serve God and others with pure love.

Prayer

Loving God, You have given us the gift of our families, both biological and spiritual. Our families are wounded, stricken with sin and suffering.

Yet, by Your grace, and in union with Christ’s sufferings for us, those wounds can be healed and become fountains of grace, a means of experiencing and sharing Your love in the midst of the travails of earthly life.

Teach us to see others through Your eyes, and keep us close to You, that we may spread Your love throughout the world, and finally come home safely to Your divine Presence.

Amen.

31 Days Prayer Points

1. Pray for the restoration of FAMILY, FATHERHOOD and MOTHERHOOD in our nation. Malachi 4:6
2. Pray for healing for MARRIAGES, protection for CHILDREN and restoration of the sanctity of LIFE. Isaiah 58:12
3. Pray for Revival, Renewal and Reformation for Australia, that our nation might return to God. 2 Chronicles 7:14

We invite you to support this month-long Prayer & Fasting campaign to raise up prayer for Family and Nation. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us spread the word and make a stand for Family, Faith, Freedom and Life.

Donate Here: https://canberradeclaration.org.au/donate/

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Daily devotions brought to you by the Canberra Declaration: https://canberradeclaration.org.au