It is in the family, in the home,
where life begins and is cherished
and is meant to grow.
Resources
Meeting Today’s Cultural Challenges to Marriage, Family and Home Life
Study guides
“14 Questions about the Family,” April 7, 2016
http://opusdei.uk/en-uk/article/14-questions-about-the-family/
St. Josemaria Escriva “10 Questions about Marriage,” July 11, 2017
https://stjosemaria.org/st-josemaria-escriva-10-questions-about-marriage/
“Every Christian Home should be a Place of Peace and Serenity”
https://opusdei.org/en-us/dailytext/every-christian-home-should-be-a-place-of-peace-an/
“10 Quotes on the Holy Rosary from St. Josemaria,” May 9, 2017
https://stjosemaria.org/10-quotes-holy-rosary/
“The Enormous Importance of the Task of Parents”
The Forge, 689, 691, 692
"Teaching the Faith in the Family: Guidelines from St. Josemaria Escriva"
https://www.stjosemaria.org/images/Teaching-the-Faith-in-the-Family.pdf
Pope Francis on Grandparents, the Value & Importance of their Role in the Family (cf. p.72, Rev.of Love book)
https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150311_udienza-generale.html
"Old age, in particular, is a time of grace, in which the Lord will renew his call... and [His] love for the elderly and their significant contributions to His unfolding purposes."(Vatican, Sept. 28, 2014)
Articles
Finding True Happiness, Pope Francis writes on Jesus coming into the world to restore it and our lives to their original splendor. Dec. 1, 2019
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20191201_admirabile-signum.html
By being born in a manger, God himself launches the only true revolution that can give hope and dignity: the revolution of love, the revolution of tenderness, ...of everyday holiness, the joy of doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way, born wherever Jesus shares his divine life with us. #4, #6
Letter to Families, Gratissimam Sane, Saint John Paul II, Feb. 2. 1994
https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_02021994_families.html
The Christian Anthropology of John Paul II: An Overview, by Fr. Thomas McGovern
http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/mcgovern/chrisanthro.html
Pope John Paul II writes: "Creating the human race in his own image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.” Familiaris Consortio
Pope Francis addresses the Humanum Colloquium on Complementarity of Man & Woman in Rome, Nov. 14, 2014
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/11/17/full-text-pope-franciss-opening-address-to-humanum-conference/
The Parents Right to Educate their Children
https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/the-parents-right-to-educate-their-children-i/
New Mediterraneans (I): "That First Prayer of a Child of God"
https://opusdei.org/en-us/document/new-mediterraneans-i-that-first-prayer-of-a-child/ The deep realization that we are God's children changes everything, as it changed Saint Josemaria's life when he unexpectedly discovered this "new Mediterranean."
How Does a Father Protect His Family?
http://www.parentleadership.com/protect.html
This folio is excerpted from Father, the Family Protector by James B. Stenson, available from Scepter Publishers.
Parent Leadership; Successful Fathers
http://www.parentleadership.com/successfulfathers.html
Something Great That Is Love (IV): More Mothers and Fathers than Ever
https://opusdei.org/en-us/document/something-great-that-is-love-more-mothers-and-fath/
Pope Francis Calls on World to ‘rediscover’ God’s Plan for Family March 25, 2019, Loreto, Italy
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/03/25/pope-francis-calls-on-world-to-rediscover-gods-plan-for-family/
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI essay, The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse, April 10, 2019
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse-59639
Pope Benedict’s essay includes in Part lll “some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church”. He ends his essay with these words for Pope Francis: “I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything he does to show us, again and again, the light of God which has not disappeared even today. Thank you, Holy Father!”
"Our World Needs a Revolution of Love!" Pope Francis Addresses Couples, Dublin, August 25, 2018
https://zenit.org/articles/popes-address-to-couples-at-st-marys-pro-cathedral-in-dublin/
"Family Love: a Vocation and a Path to Holiness”, Pope Francis's theme for 2021 World Meeting of Families, Rome, 2021
https://zenit.org/articles/theme-announced-for-next-world-meeting-of-families-in-rome-2021/
Vatican Document on Gender: Yes to Dialogue, No to Ideology
https://www.lpj.org/vatican-document-on-gender-yes-to-dialogue-no-to-ideology/
The Son of God became Man to summon us to a revolution of tenderness
Evangelii Gaudium #88, Pope Francis, Revolution of Love: The 21st Century Home, pages 1-2
CONFERENCE ON THE THEOLOGY OF TENDERNESS IN POPE FRANCIS
Good Morning,
You have reflected in recent days on the theology of tenderness, and I wish simply to say something to you, because when I saw that this was the title, I began to study. You have made me read this book to understand what the “thing” was. A good book, you know it, the one by Rocchetta. He is good.I would like, simply, to propose three ideas.
The first concerns the expression “theology of tenderness”. Theology and tenderness seem to be two distant words: the first seems to recall the academic context, the second interpersonal relations. In reality our faith links them inextricably. Theology, in fact, can not be abstract – if it were abstract, it would be ideology – as it arises from an existential knowledge, born from the encounter with the Word made flesh! Theology is then called to communicate the concreteness of God’s love. And tenderness is a “concrete existential” asset, to translate in our times the affection that the Lord nourishes for us.
Today, in fact, there is less focus on the concept or practice and more on “feeling” than in the past. We may like it or not, but it is a fact: we start from what we feel. Theology can certainly not be reduced to sentiment, but neither can it ignore that in many parts of the world the approach to vital issues no longer begins with the ultimate questions or social demands, but with what the person feels emotionally. Theology is called upon to accompany this existential quest, bringing the light that comes from the Word of God. And a good theology of tenderness can present divine charity in this sense. It is possible, because the love of God is not an abstract general principle, but personal and concrete, that the Holy Spirit communicates intimately. the feelings and thoughts Indeed, He reaches and transforms of man. What content could a theology of tenderness therefore have? Two seem important to me, and they are the other two ideas that I would like to offer you: the beauty of feeling that one is loved by God, and the beauty of feeling loved in the name of God.
Feeling we are loved. It is a message that has come to us more strongly in recent times: from the Sacred Heart, from Merciful Jesus, from mercy as an essential property of the Trinity and of Christian life. Today the liturgy reminds us of Jesus’ word: “Be merciful, just as your Father is” (Lk 6: 36). Tenderness can indicate precisely our way of receiving divine mercy today. Tenderness reveals us, next to the paternal face, the maternal face of God, of a God Who loves mankind, Who loves us with a love infinitely greater than that which a mother has for her own son (cf. Is 49: 15). Whatever happens, whatever we do, we are certain that God is near, compassionate, ready to be moved for us. Tenderness is a beneficial word, it is the antidote to fear with regard to God, because “there is no fear in love” (1 Jn 4:18), because trust overcomes fear. To feel loved, therefore, means learning to trust in God, to tell Him, as He wishes: “Jesus, I trust in You”.
These and other considerations can deepen research: to give the Church a “flavourful” theology; to help us live a conscious faith, burning with love and hope; to exhort us to kneel, touched and wounded by divine love. In this sense, tenderness refers to the Passion. The Cross is in fact the seal of divine tenderness, which is drawn from the wounds of the Lord. His visible wounds are the windows that open onto His invisible love. His Passion invites us to transform our heart of stone into a heart of flesh, to become passionate about God. And about man, for the love of God.
Here then is the last idea: feeling we are able to love. When man feels truly loved, he feels inclined to love. Besides, if God is infinite tenderness, then man too, created in His image, is capable of tenderness. Tenderness, then, far from being reduced to sentimentalism, is the first step to overcome the withdrawal into oneself, to leave behind the self-centredness that disfigures human freedom. God’s tenderness leads us to understand that love is the meaning of life. Thus we understand that the root of our freedom is never self-referential. And we feel called to pour into the world the love received from the Lord, to channel it into the Church, in the family, in society, to interpret it in serving and giving ourselves. All this not out of duty, but out of love, out of love for Him, by Whom we are tenderly loved.
These brief ideas point towards a theology on the move: a theology that emerges from the narrow alleys to which it is sometimes confined, and that with dynamism turns to God, taking man by the hand; a non-narcissistic theology, but aimed at the service of the community; a theology that is not content to repeat the paradigms of the past, but that is the Word incarnate. Certainly the Word of God does not change (cf. Heb 1: 1-2, 13,8), but the flesh that it is called to assume, this yes, it changes in every age. There is so much work, therefore, for theology and for its mission today: to incarnate the Word of God for the Church and for mankind in the third millennium. Today more than ever we need a revolution of tenderness. This will save us.
Let us entrust the advancement of your work to Our Lady, Mother of tenderness. I bless you and, together with you, I bless the communities you come from; and I ask you to pray and have others pray for me. Thank you.
Videos
Trailer for the book Revolution of Love
(2:35 minutes, https://vimeo.com/334962544)
Prof. Theresa Farnan, “Knowing Oneself” (on Gender Identity)
(3:53 minutes, https://vimeo.com/194975957)
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Humanum Colloquium on Marriage, Vatican Nov. 2014
(31 minutes, https://youtu.be/fQzt6gGwvJQ)
Helen Alvare “Restoring Culture from Confusion” (Complementarity), Address to the students at the Love & Fidelity Network Conference at Princeton, Nov. 2015
(1.5 hours, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK9PelhA2Jo)
Books
In Love with the Church, by Saint Josemaria Escriva
Four reflections on the Church and on the laity’s role in the Church.
Highly recommended.
Christ is Passing By, Homilies given by Saint Josemaria
A small book which expands on the topics in the book Revolution of Love, the 21st Century Home.
Letters from the Prelate, by Fernando Ocariz
on the Opus Dei website
Love In Action, by Fernando Ocariz
Conversations, book with interviews with St. Josemaria
links to questions and answers from the book Conversations (see Study Guides)
Amoris Laetitia, (The Joy of Loving), by Pope Francis
Covenanted Happiness, by Cormac Burke on marriage
Love & Responsibility, by St. John Paul II
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, by Dr. Meg Meeker
God as Father, by Fernando Ocariz
Friends of God, by Josemaria Escriva
Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), by Pope Francis
The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) 2014 printing
Considered his greatest work on the Liturgy
Character Building, by David Isaacs
Core Virtues: A Literature-based Program in Character Education, by Mary Beth Klee
Opus Dei
opusdei.org/en-us/
Escriva Works
escrivaworks.org
This website contains reflections on Christian life written by St. Josemaria Escriva and a search tool for quick access to the passages you are looking for.
Courage, A Roman Catholic Apostolate
couragerc.org
For men and women who experience same sex attractions and those who love them.
Stonecrest Home Arts
Stonecrest Home Arts provides opportunities for women and girls to experience how the work in the home communicates love, builds strong and joyful families, and contributes to thriving societies.
Catholic Grandparents Association
www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org/
Passing on the faith and keeping prayer at the heart of family life.
Websites
Contact Us
rol21st@gmail.com