Pope Francis to Families: "..you get married because you want to build your marriage on the love of Christ"

 On Wednesday, Pope Francis joined with families attending the Tenth World Meeting of Families in Rome for the "Festival of Families". This festival takes the form of a celebration with testimonies from different couples and their families; it is the part of the World Meeting that can be most readily described as a celebration of the family.

In his address Pope Francis responded to the testimonies that he had just heard, indicating some "steps forward" that need to be taken together and using the testimonies as stepping off points for his reflections. A brief summary of the testimonies can be found in the report here: Pope to the Families: Let us live with our eyes fixed on heaven.

Speaking of a "step forward towards marriage, in response to a testimony from a couple who had cohabited for many years, the Holy Father said:

We can say that whenever a man and a woman fall in love, God offers them a gift; that gift is marriage. It is a marvellous gift, which contains the power of God’s own love: strong, enduring, faithful, ready to start over after every failure or moment of weakness. Marriage is not a formality you go through. You don’t get married in order to be “card-carrying” Catholics, to obey a rule, or because the Church tells you to, or to have a party… No, you get married because you want to build your marriage on the love of Christ, which is solid as rock. In marriage, Christ gives himself to you, so that you can find the strength to give yourselves to one another. So take heart: family life is not “mission impossible”! By the grace of the sacrament, God makes it a wonderful journey, to be undertaken together with him and never alone. The family is not a lofty ideal that is unattainable in reality. God solemnly promises his presence in your marriage and family, not only on the day of your wedding, but for the rest of your lives. And he keeps supporting you, every day of your journey.

The other "steps forward" that Pope Francis proposed were towards embracing the cross, towards forgiveness, towards welcome and towards fraternity. The full text of the Pope's address can found on the Vatican website here.