{"id":3987,"date":"2016-07-16T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3987"},"modified":"2021-11-26T06:49:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T22:49:26","slug":"156-amoris-laetitia-promoting-the-sanctity-beauty-and-love-of-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3987","title":{"rendered":"156. Amoris Laetitia: Promoting the Sanctity, Love and Joy of the Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">You show me the path of life.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">In your presence there is fullness of joy;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>in your right hand are pleasures forevermore<\/strong>.<\/span> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Psalm 16:11<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Amoris-Laetitia.3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3998\" title=\"Amoris Laetitia.3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Amoris-Laetitia.3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"869\" height=\"579\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/w2.vatican.va\/content\/francesco\/en\/apost_exhortations\/documents\/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia.html\"><em>Amoris Laetitia<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the Joy of Love &#8211; is the fruit of the lengthy synodal process called by Pope Francis that sought to involve adults in the global Catholic Church between 2014 and 2015. This post-synodal exhortation, well in keeping with the Pope\u2019s characteristically pastoral and nonacademic style, aims to encourage Catholics to undertake a particular activity \u2013 to celebrate and promote the love and joy of family life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Pope is addressing us as adults. Let\u2019s live an adult faith; we are dealing with flesh and blood here; let\u2019s be concrete and real.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Based as it is on the two-year synod that was tasked to study the <em>complex<\/em> situations of marriage and family in today\u2019s world, this ground-breaking document is asking the whole Church to promote the sanctity, the beauty and the joy of family life, <em>but<\/em> to do so with an ever-conscious desire to always <em>meet people where they are<\/em>, rather than where we prefer them to be. And <em>please<\/em>, you can practically hear the Pope exhorts us, always be conscious of the <em>complexities<\/em> in people\u2019s lives. Always, he insists, treat people like adults, and respect their consciences when it comes to moral decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At the July 9 study day we conducted for the Christian Family Life Commission of the Archdiocese of Kuching, the first conference was \u201cOn the beauty and the joy of sacramental marriage and Christian family life\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Desiring to lay stress on the sanctity and beauty of the sacramental marriage and Christian family life, Pope Francis begins with the particular sentiment of joy:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The plan of the text is set out in paragraph 6, while paragraph 7 tells you how you can best benefit from this beautifully rich and very readable text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There is plenty to offer for general reading as well as for \u00a0specialised interests: theology of marriage and family, marriage preparation, family planning, children\u2019s education , counseling, outreach to wounded families with the <em>right<\/em> <em>spirit<\/em> and<em> attitude<\/em>, the <em>way of Jesus<\/em>, and so on. Take your pick. Organise your own study groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Designed for this time slot of the first conference, three matters were proposed for reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>1. The \u201ctwo in one flesh\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In a writing style reminiscent of the <em>Lineamenta<\/em> for the 2015 synod, paragraph 9 of <em>Amoris<\/em> <em>Laetitia<\/em> takes us to a Christian home to give us a glimpse of the beauty of the matrimony between a man and a woman, as it is <em>willed<\/em> by the Creator.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Let us cross the threshold of this tranquil home, with its family sitting around the festive table. At the centre we see the father and mother, a couple with their personal story of love. They embody the primordial divine plan clearly spoken of by Christ himself: \u201cHave you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female?\u201d (<em>Mt <\/em>19:4). We hear an echo of the command found in the Book of Gene\u00adsis: \u201cTherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be\u00adcome one flesh (<em>Gen <\/em>2:24)\u201d. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Then, paragraph 13 explains the meaning of \u201ctwo in one flesh\u201d in its dual dimensions: the \u00a0physical (sexual and corporal), and the spiritual (voluntary self-giving in love).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The very word \u201cto be joined\u201d or \u201cto cleave\u201d, in the orig\u00adinal Hebrew, bespeaks a profound harmony, a closeness both physical and interior, to such an extent that the word is used to describe our un\u00adion with God: \u201cMy soul clings to you\u201d (<em>Ps <\/em>63:8). The marital union is thus evoked not only in its sexual and corporal dimension, but also in its voluntary self-giving in love. The result of this union is that the two \u201cbecome one flesh\u201d, both physically and in the union of their hearts and lives, and, eventually, in a child, who will share not only genetically but also spiritually in the \u201cflesh\u201d of both parents. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This bears serious consequence for God and humanity. So paragraph 11 speaks of the couple that <em>loves<\/em> and <em>begets<\/em> life:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon \u2013 not an idol like those of stone or gold prohibited by the Decalogue \u2013 capable of revealing God the Creator and Saviour. For this reason, fruitful love becomes a symbol of God\u2019s inner life (cf. <em>Gen <\/em>1:28; 9:7; 17:2-5, 16; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3-4).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.12.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4003\" title=\"Domestic church.1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"311\" height=\"249\" \/>\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.22.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4004\" title=\"Domestic church.2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.22.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"445\" height=\"249\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.32.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4005\" title=\"Domestic church.3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Domestic-church.32.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"411\" height=\"235\" \/>\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/forgiveness.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4234\" title=\"forgiveness\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/forgiveness-300x183.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"389\" height=\"237\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>2. Family as the domestic church<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Reading <em>Amoris Laetitia<\/em>, what impresses us in the first place is the overarching motif of \u201cthe <em>domestic church<\/em>\u201d Pope Francis uses to capture the joy and the sorrows of marital and family life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In his loving plan, God wants every family to be a holy and happy family \u2013 a <em>domus<\/em> of joy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If the family is the church of the <em>domus<\/em>, then the good that we see in the church ought to be reflected in the <em>domus<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">communing and sharing table-fellowship,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">praying and Bible-reading,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">rituals, celebrations,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">forgiveness and reconciliation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Special note is made of children-blessing, particularly before school and before bed:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cMay the\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and take care of you; may the\u00a0Lord be kind and gracious to you; may the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make his face shine upon you and give you peace\u201d [Numbers 6:24-26]. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Forgiveness builds the family it believes in. Where reconciliation and mutual acceptance are wanting, forgiveness must be practised, however hard it gets. For without forgiveness, families fall sick. Above all, there must be love. For if the family is a domestic church, then, the first and the last principle that characterises and defines it has got to be <em>love<\/em>. God is love, and to abide in God is to abide in love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can draw up your own list of how a church of the home should look like. But one thing is for sure: <em>as a domestic church<\/em>, the first and the last principle that characterises and defines <em>the family<\/em> has got to be <em>love. Love produces joy. <\/em>God is love, and to abide in God is to abide in love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What is so beautiful about God\u2019s <em>high<\/em> plan is that the family fulfills its vocation and <em>high<\/em> purposes [Genesis 1-2] in humble settings and through the warp and woof of ordinary, concrete, daily life. In that life, love holds the key. So Pope Francis \u00a0names the chapters on love as <em>central chapters<\/em> in the Exhortation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>3. Saint Paul\u2019s hymn to love<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Without doubt, if you have to choose what to read, then you should begin with chapter 4 on love. But if you want to study the text for the controversial issues that gravitate around \u201cirregular\u201d marriages and families and the appropriate pastoral approaches in those areas, you will begin with chapter 8.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For the vast majority of our parishioners, we have no doubt that we will do well to begin with love. So we propose that we keep the vision of the \u201cfamily as the domestic church\u201d constantly in view, as we turn to St Paul\u2019s hymn to love in chapter 4 of <em>Amoris Laetitia<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cLove\u201d (used 540 times in the text) is an indispensable reality in every marriage and family. It is a word commonly used but often misused. A local priest, Fr. Stephen Lim, said something at a farewell dinner organized in his honour on the eve of his transfer, that hits the mark beautifully. \u201cTo speak of the love of God is useless,\u201d he announced and at once got everybody\u2019s attention. \u201cUnless,\u201d he added, \u201cyou can feel it, and touch it. Unless, that is, it is concrete.\u201d Love must be concrete, and that is what Pope Francis insists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the 1950s, Francis (Frank) Sinatra sang <em>\u201cLove and marriage, love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage!\u201d<\/em> Love is like the engine-room, the horse-power of holy matrimony and the domestic church. Sixty years later, Francis the Pope makes profound and practical meditations on the verses of St Paul\u2019s renowned Hymn to Love in 1 Cor. 13:4-7. Outlining all the various dimensions and manifestations of love in order to provide concrete advice for loving in daily life, Francis insists that St Paul\u2019s twelve features of true love are all concrete and real. Love \u201cmust be <em>experienced<\/em> and nurtured in the daily life of couples and their children.\u201d Love<\/span> must be relevant \u201cfor the concrete situation of every family\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/1-cor-131.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3989\" title=\"1 cor 13\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/1-cor-131.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"866\" height=\"558\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As the pope affirms the warmth of the first flush of love, and the tenderness of intimacy, however, he describes love in its fullest sense as a hard labour and an enduring friendship. Marriage is a challenge. In it, love is something to be fought for, cultivated, and renewed. Joy is found in \u201cexpansion of the heart\u201d. It is not about seeking pleasure, but about the joy of \u201chelping and serving another.\u201d We are all called to be ministers of love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Francis\u2019 delightful meditation carries an implicit reminder. Imagine, we seem to hear him say, what legacy you are leaving behind for your children and the many generations that will come after them. Would it be love or indifference, or even hatred and unforgiveness? Protect your family\u2019s future and do the hard things in love in the present. Consciously make your home a school of love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From our perspective, the beautiful commentary penned in paragraphs 90-119 of chapter 4 of <em>Amoris Laetitia<\/em> on St Paul\u2019s hymn to love is alone worthy of all the excitement surrounding this document. It is well worth reading and re-reading.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, July 2016. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/span>.<\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. [Psalm 16:11, NRSV] Amoris Laetitia \u2013 the Joy of Love &#8211; is the fruit of the lengthy synodal process called by Pope Francis that sought to involve adults in the global Catholic Church <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3987\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. [Psalm 16:11, NRSV] Amoris Laetitia \u2013 the Joy of Love &#8211; is the fruit of the lengthy synodal process called by Pope Francis that sought to involve adults in the global Catholic Church&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3987"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6814,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3987\/revisions\/6814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}