Tuesday, October 30, 2012
350. Why is the Christian family called a domestic church?
(Comp
350) The Christian family is called the domestic church because the
family manifests and lives out the communal and familial nature of the Church
as the family of God. Each family member, in accord with their own role,
exercises the baptismal priesthood and contributes toward making the family a
community of grace and of prayer, a school of human and Christian virtue and
the place where the faith is first proclaimed to children.
“In brief”
(CCC 1666) 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.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1655)
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 often constituted by those who had
become believers "together with all [their] household" (Cf. Acts
18:8). When they were converted, they desired that "their whole
household" should also be saved (Cf. Acts 16:31; Acts 11:14). These
families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving
world. (CCC 1656) In our own time, in a world
often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary
importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second
Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica (LG 11; cf. FC 21).
It is in the bosom of the family that parents are "by word and example… the
first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage
them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care
any religious vocation" (LG 11).
Reflection
(CCC 1657)
It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all members
of the family exercise the priesthood of
the baptized in a privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments,
prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and active
charity" (LG 10). Thus the home is the first school of Christian life and
"a school for human enrichment" (GS 52 § 1). Here one learns
endurance 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 1658) We must also remember the
great number of single persons who,
because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live - often not
of their choosing - are especially close to Jesus' heart and therefore deserve
the special affection and active solicitude of the Church, especially of
pastors. Many remain without a human
family often due to conditions of poverty. Some live their situation in the
spirit of the Beatitudes, serving God and neighbor in exemplary fashion. The
doors of homes, the "domestic churches," and of the great family
which is the Church must be open to all of them. "No one is without a
family in this world: the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially
those who 'labor and are heavy laden'" (FC 85; cf. Mt 11:28).
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