You are hymning your joy and you wish to share it, after having informed us of your suffering. With you, we give thanks to God for such a change in your life. Blessings accompanied the arrival of your fourth child. When tears are shed out of love, they become blessings. How can one not love a child, a child whose eyes are bathed in baptismal grace?

If the man and the woman, both together, could bend over the cradles, stopping to contemplate in them the mystery of love, discover in them the echoes of love, then families would really become sanctuaries of a calm and happy life, for God has entrusted a real “ministry” to parents which, through grace, gives the strength and courage to accept a duty that is sometimes exacting, but so very exalting if everything is immersed in true love, the love that is giving.

Clouds can arise, uncontrollable situations can try the patience and value of one’s sentiments, but that is the time to transcend oneself, both together, in order to come out of it stronger and better equipped, as a result of the experience. It is there, especially, that the man and the woman, both together, if they uplifted their sentiments above the senses, will be able to look at each other with all the strength of their love lived without selfishness and disorderliness in their affections.

Christ raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. What a favor! What a favor it is for those who are still able to discover its grandeur! Driven by an inner dynamism that impels them to constantly grow in their love, through their faithfulness every day to the promise of a mutual giving made during the religious ceremony, they renew, as events come and go each day, this pact of conjugal love, this spiritual contract that has become a sacrament, sanctioned by God through the intermediary of His ministers.

Yes, thank God, you who were spared the even more cruel sufferings of separation and who, by that very fact, have protected your children from a mutilated emotional life, with all that it comprises of anguish, insecurity, and all kinds of distress, unless, of course, as a result of circumstances out of one’s control, one of the two spouses is obliged to assume the double parental duty, lived in solitude because abandoned by the other spouse. However, let us not tarry over such sadness and rejoice over your happiness because you received the grace of being victorious during a difficult period.

In marriage, like in other vocations, the clouds can sometimes darken our thoughts and weigh down our upsurges. Nevertheless, the happiness we wish to preserve requires an atmosphere of calmness and fidelity, maintained in spite of impressions and tribulations, a trust which by the will goes beyond the chaos of impulses, knowing full well that God always gives the grace required for the moment that passes. God loves us; He is Love and our trust must rest in Him.

The one who believes in God, hopes in Him and loves for Him and with Him, is established on solid rock, and regardless of what happens, his trust in Providence is never lacking.

May you always keep this happiness and enjoy it more and more each day, both together, for the greater joy of your dear children.

Pope John Paul II said, while visiting France:

“Love is the essence of Christianity. Love of God gives us the freedom, the trust and the boldness of those who know they are at home in this created world because they are and know they are the children of God.”

Deepest gratitude for the Mass stipend, to which we will add your intentions.

Marie-Paule