The Family Fully Alive: A Pilgrimage in My City

World Meeting of Families 2015

It felt like a pilgrimage. On Saturday afternoon I left my apartment and immediately joined people from all over the world making their way through the city. Streets were barricaded, soldiers in camouflage stood guard on corners, and volunteers directed crowds. I followed the path set out for me—down cobblestoned side streets, under a bridge, and past the smooth notes of a saxophone player. When I arrived at Franklin Square I discovered a pocket of fellow pilgrims. They sat with an air of joyful reverence, awaiting the papal address. Pope Francis had come to Philadelphia.

Earlier in the week I participated in the World Meeting of Families 2015, held in conjunction with Pope Francis’s first visit to the United States. Thousands of people from myriad countries attended sessions following the theme, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.” The theme was inspired by St. Irenaeus’ memorable quote, “the glory of God is a person fully alive” and by Pope Francis’s embodiment of the gospel’s core themes of mercy, joy and love.

I grew up in Protestant churches, and I cannot recall a time I have been around so many people of faith in one place. When I crossed the street into the convention center I waved to three vans full of nuns. Everywhere I looked I saw stiff white collars, pressed black shirts, and colorful vestments. I sat in sessions led by cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests. I heard the Gospel in familiar but fresh ways. I left with a renewed vision for God’s presence in the family, which is honored in all our Christian traditions.

As I reflect on teachings from these prestigious Catholic leaders, several key themes from Scripture stand out to me—and I’ve been thinking since then of ways we can incorporate them into our churches.

Family is at the heart of God’s message in Scripture.

In the session “The Bible: A Book for the Family, A Light for the World” Cardinal Peter Turkson traced the theme of human and family love throughout Scripture. The result was a dynamic picture of God’s love towards people and of human love as a means of God’s revelation. He described the Bible as a great family history, centered on God’s covenant with people. The narrative begins with Adam and Eve in Genesis and ends with the imagery of bride and groom in Revelation. Throughout the Bible, God is compared to a father and a mother, and marital love finds its fullness in Christ’s love for the Church (Heb 12:6; Is 66:13; Ephesians 5:31-33). Through these human relationships we are better able to understand and receive God’s love—and the family becomes a place where God gives himself to us daily.

Idea: Make Scripture the heart of your family. Ms. Elizabeth Sperry, North American regional coordinator for the Catholic Biblical Federation, suggested that families recover the practice of having a dedicated family Bible in their homes. Invite members in your congregation to adopt this practice. Put a Bible in a place of prominence in the house—the dining room table or a prayer corner. Then use this Bible for regular family readings and to record significant life events. Let God’s living Word become part of the life of your family. Let its visual presence be a reminder that the family is built on the words in Scripture, and that God is present in your home.

Family is the source of wounds and healing.

While the family can be a place of great joy, it can also be the source of our deepest wounds. In “Family: A Home for the Wounded Heart,” Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle acknowledged that all people are wounded—whether physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally or financially. Many times these wounds originate from pain inflicted by our family members, or by seeing family members suffering. Yet it is often through the family, and safe relationships, that God comforts and heals the wounded. “What is a home?” Cardinal Tagle asked. “It is not measured by how many acres you have. Home is the gift of a loving presence.”

Healing the sick and wounded was central to Jesus’ mission, and he instructed the disciples to do the same (Matthew 9:35, 10:8). It is through Christ’s wounds that we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). The Church becomes an agent of this same healing as it participates in Jesus’ redemptive mission. “Since we all are wounded, we all have the gift of healing,” Cardinal Tagle told us. “We are all avenues of understanding, compassion, solidarity and love.” Healing is most effectively administered within relationships—a community, church, or group of friends.

Idea: Facilitate a healing small group. Identify a specific wound that is present in your church or community. This may be people suffering from addiction, divorce, depression, abuse or eating disorders. Put together a weekly small group based on this specific area of need. Every week, read a Scripture passage or verse about healing (Luke 5:17-26, Psalm 147:3). Focus on creating a safe place for people to experience God’s loving presence through relationships. Consider inviting a trained counselor from your church to lead the sessions, or modify the guidelines of an AA meeting to fit your group. You can also look into resources about Bible-based trauma healing from American Bible Society to address these issues.

A Continued Pilgrimage.

When Pope Francis finally appeared on the screen set up at Franklin Square, blocks away from the main event, the crowd erupted into applause. They laughed as he stopped to kiss a baby on its forehead and whispered excitedly when he walked onto the stage. I wondered how many other pockets of pilgrims were gathered in front of televisions and other screens alongside their families to listen to his address.

What kinds of conversations were being sparked? How would Pope Francis’s devotion to God, as expressed through his words and actions, help people encounter God’s Word? As Pope Francis said before, “Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”

I hope to continue my pilgrimage—going out into the world and finding new revelations of God’s presence, even on the familiar streets of my neighborhood. I hope to find God in the faces of my neighbors, friends and family members. I hope this will lead me down deeper paths of healing, and into deeper ways of engaging with Scripture. May God’s words—spoken from the beginning and still speaking in fresh ways—breathe new life into us, making us each come fully alive.

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