THEO LT 2

• The Bible is full of families, births, love stories and family crises
• Jesus' description of the two houses, one built on rock and the other on sand, symbolizes any number of family situations shaped by the exercise of their members' freedom
• Jorge Luis Borges: 'Every home is a lampstand'
• Blessings of the man who fears the Lord

  • Eats the fruit of his labour
  • Is happy
  • It shall go well with him
  • His wife is like a fruitful vine
  • His children are like olive shoots round his table
• Man and woman


  Primordial divine plan, made male and female
• A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh
• Image of God


  Refers to the couple, male and female
• God's transcendence is preserved, yet the fruitfulness of the human couple is a living and effective "image", a visible sign of his creative act
• Couple that loves and begets life

  A true, living icon capable of revealing God the Creator and Saviour
• Fruitful love becomes a symbol of God's inner life
• The ability of human couples to beget life is the path along which the history of salvation progresses
• Family


  A reflection of the communion of love in the Trinity
• The marital union is evoked not only in its sexual and corporal dimension, but also in its voluntary self-giving in love
• Children


  Like "living stones" of the family, full of energy and vitality
• A family's living space could turn into a domestic church, a setting for the Eucharist, the presence of Christ seated at its table
• The Bible presents the family as the place where children are brought up in the faith
• Parents have a serious responsibility for the work of education of their children
• Children are not the property of a family, but have their own lives to lead
• Jesus shows the need for other, deeper bonds even within the family: "My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it"
• The idyllic picture presented in Psalm 128 is not at odds with the presence of pain, evil and violence that break up families and their communion of life and love
• Through sin, the relationship of love and purity between man and woman turns into domination: "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you"
• The Bible is full of family problems, disputes, tragedies and violence
• Jesus himself was born into a modest family that soon had to flee to a foreign land
• Jesus visits the homes of those in need and shows sympathy upon hearing of deaths in the homes
• Through numerous pages of the Bible, beginning with Cain's murder of his brother Abel, we read of the disputes between the sons and the wives of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the tragedies and violence marking the family of David, the family problems reflected in the story of Tobias and the bitter complaint of Job
• Jesus visits the home of Peter, whose mother-in-law is ill and shows sympathy upon hearing of deaths in the homes of Jairus and Lazarus
• Jesus hears the desperate wailing of the widow of Nain for her dead son and heeds the plea of the father of an epileptic child
• Jesus goes to the homes of tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus and speaks to sinners like the woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee
• Jesus knows the anxieties and tensions experienced by families and he weaves them into his parables
• The word of God is not a series of abstract ideas but rather a source of comfort and companionship for every family that experiences difficulties or suffering
• The word of God shows families the goal of their journey, when God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more"
• Work


  An essential part of human dignity
• Labour makes possible the development of society and provides for the sustenance, stability and fruitfulness of one's family
• The Book of Proverbs presents the labour of mothers within the family; their daily work is described in detail as winning the praise of their husbands and children
• The Apostle Paul was proud not to live as a burden to others, since he worked with his own hands and assured his own livelihood
• Paul laid down a strict rule for his communities: "If anyone will not work, let him not eat"
• We can appreciate the suffering created by unemployment and the lack of steady work, as reflected in the Book of Ruth, Jesus' own parable of the labourers forced to stand idly in the town square, and his personal experience of meeting people suffering from poverty and hunger
• Social degeneration brought about by sin, such as when human beings tyrannize nature, selfishly and even brutally ravaging it, leads to the desertification of the earth and those social and economic imbalances denounced by the prophets
• Christ proposed as the distinctive sign of his disciples the law of love and the gift of self for others
• Love also bears fruit in mercy and forgiveness, as seen in the scene of the woman caught in adultery