Posted February 2, 2015

See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

105. In the case of marriage, when husbands and wives give themselves to one another, with a love that imitates Jesus, their gift of self to each other is part of the work of Christ, joining in the same spirit of Jesus’ own gift of himself for the Church. When the spouses exchange their vows in church at their wedding liturgy, Christ receives their nuptial love and makes it part of his own Eucharistic gift of self for the Church and the Father who, pleased by the offering of the Son, gives the Holy Spirit to the spouses to seal their union. Nuptial fruitfulness, then, is first of all the gift and the task of the sacramental bond. This is exactly why Saint John Paul II beautifully said that the nuptial bond that the spouses have been given to enjoy and live makes them “the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross; they are for one another and for the children witnesses to the salvation in which the sacrament makes them sharers.”

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In its introduction, the document says its aim is to present “Catholic teaching in a way that is fresh, insightful, and accessible to contemporary Catholics and all people of good will.” The catechesis “offers a narrative beginning with our creation, soberly noting our fall and the challenges we face, but emphasizing God’s plan for our salvation. Love is our mission, and it is by loving God and one another that we will be fully alive.”

Each day in CatholicPhilly.com’s World Meeting of Families section you can reflect on the official Catholic teaching on the family presented in the catechesis, pray a special prayer together as a family or individually, and stay on top of breaking news about the events coming Sept. 22-27, 2015.

Order the catechesis for your home via Our Sunday Visitor, and visit WorldMeeting2015.org for more information on the events.

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