The Holy Father had some footnotes for his synod-concluding speech last week. The final note was an acrostic reflection on “FAMIGLIA,” or Italian for you-know-what word. M is for Mercy, right?
Manifesting and bringing God’s mercy
- to families in need;
- to the abandoned,
- to the neglected elderly,
- to children pained by the separation of their parents,
- to poor families struggling to survive,
- to sinners knocking on our doors and those who are far away,
- to the differently able,
- to all those hurting in soul and body,
- to couples torn by grief, sickness, death or persecution;
Nine points, all good material for reflection, but not for a post-synod study group. It’s a good list for a Christian disciple to reflect upon. Which of these are your specialty, your mission? And for parishes, probably all of them deserve some attention on a consistent basis.
Number four is striking, especially given the schizophrenic approach of the pro-family + rigor approach. One would think that any two-parent household is better than one for the children of separated parents.
Number six: those people far away from our doors. That’s getting out past our front porch and into the city, the gateways, and the peripheries, isn’t it?
