Juventutem London – 17 January 2020 – Homily

On the feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, Fr De Malleray, FSSP, begins his homily by reflecting on the family. To be a parent and spouse in contemporary culture is heroic. It is a historic time for antagonism against the family and yet God loves families. He created the first family. Reflecting on the Holy Family inspires us of this truth. God decided to belong to a family. The second person of the Trinity, became the son of a woman, Our Lady, and the foster son of St. Joseph. From the beginning of our race, God expressed His will that humanity should be propagated through family. The first end of marriage is procreation and education of children. The second end of marriage is mutual support of the spouses. Parents have the glorious task of assisting God with populating heaven with new worshippers of the most Holy Trinity. This means not only to beget children but also to raise children to love God. The proof of a successful Christian education is the good example of virtue and the assistance lent by children to their parents and neighbours in need. So families are our heroes; because God wants families. But the world hates families. The world wants to take control of the family, of parents, of children. Why? Because the family as willed by God is the best school of sanctification for children and adults in the world. The world, being inimical to God, wants to control every man and every woman as if God did not exist. Family is the core cell of society. Christian families are domestic churches. Families are where children learn to lead life in common, to share, to listen, to obey, to trust, to serve, to love. Nowhere better than in the family can virtue be acquired. This in turn benefits society at large. Happy and stable families bring balanced and helpful itizens into the world. On the contrary, when families are weak or broken, then addiction, suicide, violence and crime increase. Fr then affirms a truth that soon, could be criminalised: parents are the primary educators of their children. They have this responsibility by natural right since they begot them. The state or any other institution, may assist the parents in the education of the children – but it must be the parent who decides if so. The state has no right to force “eduction” upon children against the parents’ will, especially sexual perversion classes. The state and other institutions may step in to provide for the children’ education if the parents cannot, yet always respecting natural law and divine law. Parental rights: the confiscation of the parental right by the state is the necessary bent of godless societies. This confiscation has been tried and implemented by every tyranny, but most successfully in recent times. Communism, Nazism, and now Hedonist Relativism. On the contrary, healthy families make prosperous countries. Some examples of what a state worthy of the name should do: Firstly, in its duty to families, the state must provide adequate housing; every family is entitled to own a house. Second: the state must facilitate the transition of the family home from one generation to the next, by not claiming inheritance tax. Thirdly, society must accept that women cannot be replaced in nurturing life and in making the home a place of peace, order, and happiness. This is essential to ordering a society towards salvation. We are bound for eternity, but family life is our best preparation for a happy eternity with God. The supreme service women in the world can give to humanity is fostering life. It has been a great success of cultural communism to persuade the Western world that housewives are a waste. To achieve this lie, the godless have used cinema, literature, sociology, and the parliaments, to powerful effect. The truth is that mothers in the homes are queens. Women raising their children are heroines. Wives investing all they energies and skills into shaping new children of God are among the greatest benefactresses of mankind. Fourth: the authority of the husband and father must be upheld and praised, as described by St. Paul. “He must love his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” Fr then mentions a recently released film A Hidden Life, which depicts an authentically-lived Catholic manhood. Fifth: marriage must be protected by law as a permanent and exclusive bond of fidelity between a man and woman in order to raise children. Sixth: pornography, contraception, abortion, surrogacy, IVF, must be curbed and ultimately disappear as contrary to the dignity of men and women, of parents, and of society. Fr then quotes from Pope Francis on the family, highlighting its place in the Christian life. Fr concludes points out that he has been addressing these issues from the perspective of civil society – but ultimately it is about grace and eternity. Securing a natural order benefits the supernatural order. Strong families make strong countries – and strong countries, inspired by the Catholic faith, prepare a blessed eternity with God. This is what we must all have in mind when praying before the crib and while praying for families. Indeed, individual families are cherished units of the larger family of God, that is, His Holy Church. In the “Hanc Igitur” prayer, the celebrant refers to the Church as the family of God. Fr finishes the sermon by inviting those who might be called to family to beg the Holy Family to inspire, to guide, to heal, and sanctify a;l families. This way parents will not only be heroes, but with their children, they will be saints.

Posted by Juventutem London on Thursday, 20 February 2020