One of the main teachings of the Second Vatican Council is that EVERYONE, no matter their role or station in life, is called to holiness.  In the family, holiness is a response of love to the graces that God pours out on them everyday. As Pope Francis wrote, “A love that fails to grow is at risk.  Growth can only occur if we respond to God’s grace through constant acts of love, acts of kindness that become ever more frequent, intense, generous, tender and cheerful….  The gift of God’s love poured out upon the spouses is also a summons to constant growth in grace” (Amoris Laetitia #134).

    Living out this response of love to God’s graces -- living out this holiness -- causes us to give witness to Christ Jesus in our daily lives.  It is through living their lives as Catholic families, devoted to their faith, to each other, and to helping those in need, that Catholic families best evangelize the world around them which so often seems reluctant to hear this Good News.

    Evangelization is the responsibility of every member of the Church.  Like everyone, Catholic families must put comfort and convenience aside “to risk sharing in the suffering of others” who are one the margins.  Who are those on the margins? They are often people we have never met, the poor, the immigrant, the unborn. They might people people we know; the lonely and those who feel isolated, and maybe even those in our own families who are difficult to love because of their personalities.  Basically, those on the margin are all those who are wounded and far off from God’s love and His Church.

    Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that the New Evangelization depends largely on the  Domestic Church of the family. He said in his Address to the Pontifical Council for the Family, “just as the eclipse of God and the crisis of the family are linked, so the new evangelization is inseparable from the Christian family.  The family is indeed the way of the Church because it is the ‘human space’ of our encounter with Christ.” He continued, the family “is called to welcome, radiate and show the world the love and presence of Christ.  The reception and transmission of divine love are realized in the mutual commitment of the spouses, in generous and responsible procreation, in the care and education of children, work and social relationships, with attention to the needy, in participation in church activities, in commitment to civil society.”  The question that each Catholic family must ask itself, on a regular basis, is “How can we as a family better communicate Christ’s presence to others in word and action, thereby becoming a ‘saving community’ that shares the love of Christ?”

    Here is a family project that you might try this month to get you started.  Write down ideas for small sacrifices and offerings on individual pieces of paper.  Place these in a small bowl. Every day have each member of your family randomly select one piece of paper to offer the sacrifice listed for the intentions of a relative or friend who may be feeling far off from God’s love.  At the end of the month, each family member might send a note to the person for whom they made the offering, telling them about their prayers and sacrifices.