This mission is accomplished above all in the family, where faith accompanies every age of life and enlightens all our relationships in society (cf. Lumen Fidei, 53-54). When we give our attention and resources to supporting the family, beginning with marriage preparation and continuing with catechesis for all stages of life, we enrich our parishes and local Churches. So too, our societies and cultures are permeated with the fragrance of the Gospel. Through the witness of the Japanese faithful, “the Church expresses her genuine catholicity and shows forth the ‘beauty of her varied face’” (Evangelii Gaudium, 116). So often, when we find this witness lacking, it is not because the faithful do not want to be missionary disciples, but rather because they think themselves incapable of the task.
(source: To the Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Japan on their “ad Limina” visit (20 March 2015))
A friend directed my attention to this article about a statement from the bishops in Japan, and reflecting on that statement led me to the Holy Father’s words, above.
From the article:
“In a majority of households, only one member of the family is Catholic,” said Father Mamoru Yamawaki, president of the synod’s core committee. “The discussion has shifted from how to keep the faith as a family to how people can live their faith as individuals.”
The declining practice of the faith has adversely affected families. “Children attending a parent’s funeral often cannot join in the prayers and do not even know how to participate in Mass; they are bewildered and upset,” the document said.
(source: CatholicHerald.co.uk » Archbishop says there is a ‘deep sense of crisis’ in Japanese Church)
When faithful Catholic men and women minister the Sacrament of Matrimony in the Church, we can be sure that they will receive the grace to serve as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, disciples, mentors, beneficiaries, benefactors, hosts, guests, and friends to each other, to their children, to their fellow believers, and to their whole neighborhood.
When people, however well-intentioned or otherwise faithful, struggle to find the minimum acceptable level of fidelity and service that “fit” their secular ambitions and entanglements, they are spilling most of the grace they are offered.
To see the faithful provided more grace, demand that they be more faithful. Grace is given for service, for perfecting us in charity, and this is as far from sentimentality as we can conceive.
We are guaranteed times of struggle–we are sure to be “bewildered and upset” at times. What we need is a guarantee of grace to meet those struggles equably.
This grace comes by faith–it calls forth, responds to, and perfects the obedience of faith.
144. To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to “hear or listen to”) in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.
(source: Catechism of the Catholic Church)
In the faith of his humble handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the beginning of time. She whom the Almighty made “full of grace” responds by offering her whole being: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.” “Fiat“: this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God’s, because he is wholly ours.
(source: Catechism of the Catholic Church)
(source: Annunciation – Daniel Mitsui)