Maintaining a Gospel of hope in family life

Maintaining a Gospel of hope in family life
David Kennedy

 

In his letter on the joy of love, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis calls on Catholic families to live their Easter faith and to recognise that at its centre one finds authentic Christian hope. In fact, he emphasises that “in our own day dominated by stress and rapid technological advances, one of the most important tasks of families is to provide an education in hope” (AL 275).

Families living the Catholic faith today can find joy in the words of Friedrich Schiller, German poet and dramatist, when he says that “anyone who has heard the Easter proclamation can no longer go around with a tragic expression on [their] face and lead the humourless existence of a [person] who has no hope”.

Or, as a priest said to me recently during an anecdote about one of his old university lecturers: “If you have read the Gospel, inform your face”.

But, in a practical sense, what does this mean for families? Does it entail a radical alteration of the devotional or spiritual reality of family life? No, on the contrary, to paraphrase St Francis de Sales when speaking on matters of devotion, “people in family situations do not need to lead lives akin to monks or nuns”.

Devotion

True devotion “does not destroy anything at all”. Rather, “it perfects and fulfils all things”. When families truly live those three important words ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ they become spaces utterly devoted to God. This is not always easy. Rather, similar to the Gospel, these words at times present themselves as being profoundly challenging. Yet families can garner strength from the fact that the risen Christ is present not only during the good times, but also during the most difficult times.

When my cousin Sarah tragically lost her life at the age of 19 in a car crash on her way to work as a student nurse, it was difficult for me to see any hope or meaning in life. Yet, as traumatic as this loss and experience has been for our family, my Easter faith helped me to find hope, and to recognise that in passing from this earthly existence to the next, Sarah and all those family members who have passed away in the hope of the resurrection, have not stopped being part of our family.

In fact, every day as we remember and talk about them it becomes a form of prayer.

I find hope and strength in the fact that now they are there looking out for us in Heaven, and in this way, they are still very much part of our family life. As a young person who is preparing for marriage, this point is particularly significant for both my fiancée Fiona and I as we prepare to start our married life together.

We find hope in the fact that those closest to us who have passed away are looking out for us and guarding us through this joyful and hope-filled time in our lives.

As I look towards starting my own family, there are aspects of my family of origin that I hope to carry forward. My grandparents showed me that it is possible to nurture the natural ebbs and flows between faith and daily life. Growing up on a farm, I find that it is the simple things that I remember. Every day the Angelus would be said in the kitchen at teatime and anytime I would spend the night your prayers would be said before you went to sleep.

Some rituals were more notably distinctive such as the blessing of the cattle with holy water before the mart or in the spring when we would almost leap for joy at the sight of the fields again after the harsh winter months.

This experience of the extraordinary in the ordinary has left a lasting impression on me. In his prayer for grandparents, Pope Benedict XVI speaks of grandparents as “pillars” of the family and the Church. I was lucky enough to receive the most wonderful gift of all – to grow up feeling the support of these pillars and to have parents who always did their best to give us a caring and loving home that was full of hope.

Yet, the love that we experience in family life must extend beyond the family towards the care and protection of creation. We must not forget that there will be no family for the earth if we do not take it upon ourselves to look after the gift given to us by God. Here, the wise words that my dad said to me as we walked through the fields at home come to mind, “we are all only keepers [Davie], we keep the place as best we can for the next generation”. In this statement the words of Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families 2015 are reaffirmed – “in families there is always light”.

During these months of preparation for the World Meeting of Families 2018, parishes around the country are encouraging families to reflect on and discuss authentic Christian hope within the context of family life. It’s a call we shouldn’t be afraid to answer.

David Kennedy is a researcher with the Catholic Schools Partnership and the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools. David is also working with the World Meeting of Families 2018 as part of their outreach to Catholic schools. For more see www.amoris.ie