A new liturgical year started on Nov. 27 with the First Sunday of Advent. This new season is a great time to start a new faith-building practice, such as memorizing short portions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Just as memorization of prayers or Scripture yields spiritual benefits, so do our willingness to progress in the knowledge of Church teachings.
Below are 10 quotes from the Catechism in support of Catholic family life, grouped by three major themes. Try to memorize one quote per month as you reflect on the theme!
- To be a holy family, look to the Holy Family
By his obedience to Mary and Joseph, as well as by his humble work during the long years in Nazareth, Jesus shows us the example of holiness in the daily life of family and work(CCC, 564).
- The family is the original cell of social life.It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the basics for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society (CCC, 2207).
- Parents are the main and first educators of their children.In this sense the basic task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life (CCC, 1653).
- The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and education of children it reflects the Father’s work of creation. It is called take part in the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity (CCC, 2205).
- The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith.For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity (CCC, 1666).
- The Christian family constitutesa specific revelation and actualization of ecclesial communion.it can and should be called a domestic church. It is a community of faith, hope, and charity (CCC, 2204).
- The home is the first school of Christian life and “a school for human enrichment.” Here one learns patience and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous — even repeated — forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life (CCC,1657).
- Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than “the family of God.” From the beginning, the core of the Church was always constituted by those who had become believers “together with all [their] household” (cf. Acts 18:8) (CCC, 1655).
- The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor. There are many families who are at times incapable of providing this help. It devolves then on other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to provide for their needs (CCC, 2208).
- The relevance of the family for the life and well-being of society entails a particular responsibility for society to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Civil power ought to see it a grave duty “to accept the true nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster them, to safeguard public morality, and encourage domestic prosperity.”
