Pope Emphasizes Importance of Authentic Family in Holy Family Address

"Pray constantly your Rosary, your beads of prayer to Heaven. Remain unified in your family lives. The institution of your country--the great foundation is based on family life. Destroy the family and you destroy your country. The enemies--the enemy is already within your country. Watch and pray well, My children." - Our Lady of the Roses, June 18, 1980

LifeSiteNews.com reported on January 4, 2010:

In his Angelus address for the Feast of the Holy Family on December 27, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the importance of the family, founded upon a true understanding of marriage, for the good of mankind.

"God wished to reveal Himself by being born in a human family, and hence the human family has become an icon of God,” the Holy Father told the crowd in St. Peter's Square.

"God, by having come into the world in the bosom of a family, shows that this institution is a sure way to meet and know Him, and a permanent call to work for the loving unity of all people,” he continued. “Thus, one of the greatest services which we as Christians can offer our fellow men and women is to show them the serene and solid witness of a family founded upon marriage between a man and a woman, defending it and protecting it, because it is of supreme importance for the present and future of humankind.”

"In truth, the family is the best school in which to learn to live the values that dignify individuals and make peoples great,” he added. “There too sufferings and joys are shared, as everyone feels cloaked in the affection that reigns in the home by the mere fact of being members of the same family.”

Reflecting on the day's Gospel reading, the finding of Christ in the Temple, Pope Benedict offered guidance for authentic Christian education. "Jesus' decision to remain in the Temple was above all the fruit of his intimate relationship with the Father, but also the fruit of the education received from Mary and Joseph,” he said.

"Here we may catch a glimpse of the authentic meaning of Christian education,” he continued. “It is the result of a collaboration that must always be sought between the educators and God. The Christian family is aware that children are God's gift and project. Hence it cannot consider them as it own possessions but, serving God's plan through them, is called to educate them in the greatest of freedoms which is that of saying 'yes' to God in order to accomplish His will.”

The Pope concluded with a prayer that families experience "this love of total commitment and fidelity which Jesus brought into the world by His birth, nourishing and strengthening it with daily prayer, the constant practice of virtue, reciprocal understanding and mutual respect.”

"The Eternal Father command that you stop these murders at once! You will not destroy the lives of the unborn. Human life is sacred in the eyes of your God. No man has the right to destroy a life. The Father, He sends this life to you, and only He will decide when it will return back to the Kingdom.
"Do not, My children, be deceived by the words of the evil ones about you who cry to you of no space left for man. There is space, for My Father has a plan for every life He sends." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1971

FAMILY CIRCLE
"The strength for souls will be found in the family circle." - Our Lady, December 31, 1972

INSTITUTE FAMILY PRAYER
"Confusion, confusion! All about Us We see confusion and the conditioning of errors. Family prayer must be instituted in the home. If you do not ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you, too, will walk the road of error." - Our Lady, December 25, 1971

ONE GLORIOUS FAMILY
"In Our Heaven, there is but one glorious family. In Heaven all are brothers and sisters. Why, then, must you fight over body color, body dressing, body wealth? What does it avail you to squabble and fight for something you will leave behind when you come before Us? Work now, My children, not to dress your body but to feed your soul. And many are starving.
"Yes, you are all brothers and sisters, and as such, you have one bond in common with your God: that is love. And if you know the true meaning of love, you will reach out and save your brothers and your sisters." - Our Lady, December 25, 1971

FIRMNESS IS NEEDED
"I am a man of few words, preferring to stand behind my Son. But I do feel great sorrow for the state of man on earth and his family life. The family that does not pray together can not stay together, for prayer chases the demons from the household. Why has man no longer chosen to bless his home with sacramentals and the waters?
     "I wish that all fathers of households stand forth and practice their role. They will use the rod and not permit their children to go astray. Firmness is needed in your world that is filled with laxity, permissiveness, and degradation.
     "Your children have been misled by many who shall answer to the Father. As teachers they have failed in their role. Therefore, as parents you must succeed in yours.
     "The greatest detrimental factor in the family and home is the desire for the material. Better that you live in the gardens and fields with the nourishment of manna from Heaven, than to be filled with the abominations of the world." - St. Joseph, March 18, 1973

RECOVER THE PEACE
"In your world today that has been caught in the snare of the wiles of satan, many families are heading to oblivion, disintegration, and destruction. The forces of evil, the agents of 666, have now infiltrated into the very heart of mankind: the home, the family.
"O My children, if you could only recover the peace and quiet of spirit that was once much evident in your homes and now has been replaced by all manner of creations of satan, creations that distract the minds of the innocent, creations that have taken the knowledge of their God from the children, while fathers and mothers are lost as they run to and fro gathering all the material wealth upon earth, seeking pleasures that are soul destroyers, and setting an example that can be and lead to an abomination within the family circle.
"The parents, the mother and the father, My children, must set a firm example to their children. When these children leave the family's home, they are subjected to all trials of error, deception, delusion, and lies." - Our Lady, July 24, 1976

THE GREAT FOUNDATION
"Pray constantly your Rosary, your beads of prayer to Heaven. Remain unified in your family lives. The institution of your country--the great foundation is based on family life. Destroy the family and you destroy your country. The enemies--the enemy is already within your country. Watch and pray well, My children." - Our Lady, June 18, 1980

DEDICATION TO ETERNAL FATHER
"The foundation for a young life is found in the family. We find much lacking in the example of many parents. They have forgotten their role as parents, and they are feeding their children well with the contaminating abundance of your nation and the world; however, their souls are being starved for the light.
"The role for the prosperity within a family is simple, My child. It is one of a dedication to the Eternal Father. What does it matter, My children, if you gain the whole world's goods and suffer the loss of your eternal soul? Your pilgrimage is but a short one upon earth. Have you stored your reward with Us, or have you given yourselves to the pleasures of the flesh and satan?" - Our Lady, March 18, 1975

HAVE YOU PREPARED?
"Have you, as parents, prepared your family? Have you set your household in order?
"I have asked you to place in your homes the Book of life and love, your Bible. Parents, you must read this to your children, for they shall not receive the knowledge of their God outside of your door. The teachers have given themselves to the world." - Our Lady, August 14, 1975

GREATEST ATTACK
"Evil creations from hell--all manner of abominations are entering into the homes of your nation and the countries throughout the world. It will be an absolute necessity now for all parents to act as a director, a leader in the homes. The greatest attack from satan shall be upon family life. If you break down the family, you will break down the nation." - St. Joseph, March 15, 1978

RETIRE AS A FAMILY UNIT
"Each family that wishes to be saved must now retire as a family unit from the world which has now been given to satan. Guard the souls of the ones you love. Satan sends his agents among you with cunning. You must always watch. Many parents are leading their children on the road to damnation by their example, by their permissiveness, and by their laxity." - Our Lady, July 15, 1972

SO MUCH DISCORD
"Children of the world, there is so much discord among families. There is so much deterioration among families. This is not a good sign. The family unit must be together under the true sign of the living God. Mothers and fathers have a great responsibility for their children. You who spend your hours, so few upon earth, giving your children their bodily delights, their materialistic wishes and pleasures, while their souls are starving and they are being led on the path that will take them farther from the Kingdom. Sin, the darkest of sins, are being committed in the homes. What example as parents are you showing to your children?" - St. Joseph, December 30, 1972

TRUTH, FAITH, TRADITION
"The children must be guided by the family. The truth, the Faith, the Tradition must be instilled in their hearts by the mothers and fathers of a family. Do not expect your children to go beyond your doors and be instructed in truth, for the world has been given to satan. Many who should be showing a firm and true example have gone the easy way of the flesh, for they care more for the treasures and glory of this world, earth, than what the future has for them." - Our Lady, December 6, 1975

CLEANSE YOUR HOMES
"We look into many homes and we find no close bond of unity. And why? Because you prefer to keep a diabolical machine in your homes, those televisions! These, my children, are all creations of satan. The family does not pray together. The mother does not bring the knowledge of God to her children. The father seeks his way in the world, gathering money and material things that are all passing.
"Cleanse your homes! Start anew! Work together for your reward in the eternal Kingdom. Your homes must be now a fortress against the evil that surrounds you." - St. Joseph, March 18, 1976

FAMILY IS DISINTEGRATING
"Penance, atonement, and sacrifice, My children, I beg of you! The family is disintegrating; there is no discipline. I hear the word 'love' expounded throughout your earth in all medias. But love has been lost!
"We watch as many are selling their souls to get to the head, not caring about the day, the night, the hour when they must come across the veil and account for their actions upon earth: their sins of commission, their sins of omission.
"Parents, you have a major responsibility now to save your children. The young are the major victims now in a world that has been taken over by satan and his agents." - Our Lady, August 14, 1979

BROKEN HOMES
"It is only because there are not enough prayers that there is discord and broken homes." - Our Lady, December 28, 1974

PRAYER
"We are quite pleased with the words the Spirit sent unto man that the family that prays together will stay together, My child. No truer a message was ever coined. The family that prays together will stay together." - Our Lady, June 18, 1974

PRAY TOGETHER
"A family that prays together will stay together! Without God in your home there will be separation and discord. A home in this fight with Lucifer cannot survive without prayer and dedication to your God." - Our Lady, June 18, 1979

Directives

D15 - Holy Matrimony PDF
D167 - The Family - Part 1 PDF
D168 - The Family - Part 2 PDF
D218 - Children, Part 1 PDF
D219 - Children, Part 2 PDF
D369 - Responsibility of Parents, Part 1
D370 - Responsibility of Parents, Part 2