Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - With the "three magic words: please, thank you and sorry", with a wife's prayer for her husband and vice-versa and by always making peace before the end of the day after a quarrel, "marriage can progress". This was Pope Francis' recipe for a sound marriage, which concluded his general audience catechesis dedicated to Holy Matrimony, the last of the seven sacraments.
There were 60 thousand people
present for the general audience. As
usual, the Pope toured among the crowd at length in his white jeep, alighting
to greet a group of children waving pink pom -poms.
Pope
Francis said marriage "takes us into the very heart of God's loving plan, which
is a covenant with His people, with all of us, a plan of communion. Early
in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, at the culmination of the
Creation it states: " God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him: male and female he created them ... For this a
man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they become
one flesh". "The image of God is the married couple, a man and a
woman, both of them, not only
male, man, not only the woman , no: both. And
this is the image of God, and of love, God's covenant with us is there, it is
represented in this covenant between man and woman. And this is truly beautiful! We are
created to love as a mirror image of God and His love . And
in the conjugal union man and woman fulfill this vocation as a sign of
reciprocity and the full and definitive communion of life".
"When a man and a woman celebrate the sacrament of marriage, God, so to speak, is "mirrored" in them, He marks them with His features and the indelible character of His love. Even God, is a communion of the three persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who live forever and are forever in perfect unity. And this is the mystery of marriage: God makes one existence of the two spouses - the Bible says "one flesh" - in the image of His love, in a communion which draws its origin and its strength from God. And this is the mystery of marriage, it is the love of God which is mirrored in marriage, in couple who decide to live together. And for this reason a man leaves his house, the house of his parents and goes to live with his wife and is so strongly united to her, that as the Bible says they become: 'One flesh'. They are not two".
The Pope recalled that St. Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, "emphasizes that a great mystery is reflected in Christian spouses: the relationship established by Christ with the Church, a nuptial relationship". The Pope explained that "this means that the marriage answers a specific vocation and should be considered as a consecration. It is consecration. Man and woman are consecrated for their love, for love. The spouses, in virtue of the sacrament, are invested with a real mission , so that they can make visible, starting from simple, ordinary things, the love with which Christ loves his Church, continuing to give His life for Her, in fidelity and service".
"The real bond is always with the Lord. When the family prays, the bond is maintained. When husband prays for his wife and the wife for her husband, that bond becomes stronger. Pray with one another. It 's true that in married life there are so many difficulties, so many, right? Work, not enough money , problems with children... so many difficulties . Often the husband or the wife , they become a bit 'nervous and quarrel among themselves. No? They fight! This always happens: there are always quarrels in families, but sometimes, even plates fly! You may laugh, but it's the truth! We must not be sad about this. It is the human condition. But the secret is that your love is stronger than your quarrel. And for this I have a piece of advice for couples: Never let the sun set on a quarrel, without making peace. Never!". "You don't need to call the United Nations to your home to make peace, a small gesture, a caress is enough. And tomorrow is another day. And this is life, so onwards, always onwards with the courage to want to live together. And this is great, it's great! It is a beautiful thing married life and we must always safeguard it, protect children. Some times I have said here that one thing that helps both in married life are three words. I do not know if you remember the three words. Three words that you should always say, three words which must be in the house: 'please , thanks , sorry'. The three magic words! Please, to avoid being intrusive", "thank you, for what you have done for me" and "sorry ", "because we all make mistakes that word is a little difficult, but must be said Permission , thanks and sorry. Let's repeat it all together! Please, thank you and sorry. With these three words, with a husband's prayer for his wife and a a wife's prayer for her husband, always making peace before the end of the day, the marriage will survive. The three magic words, prayer, and always making peace".
Finally, in greeting Polish pilgrims, Pope Francis recalled today's anniversary of the death of John Paul II, " in imitation of Christ, he was a tireless preacher of the Word of God, truth and goodness for the world. Even in his suffering. This was the teaching of his life to which God's people have responded with great love and respect".