Focus on family in 4th Lenten Sermon
March 11, 2016
In the 4th in his series of Lenten Sermons, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the pontifical household, explored the treatment of marriage and family in the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes.
Preaching to Pope Francis and the leaders of the Roman Curia, Father Cantalamessa said that clerics should be acquainted with the challenges facing married couples today. He suggested that just as the growth of Christianity changed attitudes toward marriage, in the 21st century must again help a secular world to understand the truth about what marriage is.
Within the Church, the papal preacher continued, married couples and clerics or religious should "edify one another." Those who lead consecrated lives help married people to be mindful of the eternal, he said. From married couples, consecrated religious should "learn generosity, self-forgetfulness, service to life, and often a certain 'humanness' that comes from their difficult engagements with the realities of life."
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Further information:
- Fourth Lenten Sermon focuses on marriage and family (Vatican Radio)
- Papal preacher devotes Lenten sermon to evangelization (CWN, 4/4)
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