Pope Francis‘ catechesis on the time of prayer: "Moms, dads, teach your children to make the sign of the cross"
After reflecting in the past weeks on how the family lives the times of celebration and work, at the Wednesday General Audience on August 26th, in St. Peter‘s Square, Pope Francis spoke about the time of prayer. "We learn to ask for this gift of the Spirit and to appreciate―he said―it in the family. When this happens, every moment of family life is wrapped up in God’s love, and spontaneously time for prayer is sought."
"The family‘s time, as we well know―he continued―, is complicated and crowded, occupied and preoccupied. It‘s always short; there‘s never enough. Someone who has a family soon learns to solve an equation that not even the great mathematicians know how to solve: he or she puts the double into twenty-four hours! Isn‘t that so? There are moms and dads who could win the Nobel Prize for this! They make 24 hours into 48! I don‘t know how that, but they move ahead and do it! There is so much work in a family." Then Pope Francis insisted on the importance of family prayer: "The Gospel read and meditated in the family is like good bread that nourishes everyone‘s heart. [...] There‘s one thing that is very important to me, and I saw this in the city: there really are children who have not learned to make the sign of the Cross! Now, you, moms and dads, teach your children to pray, to make the sign of the cross; this is a beautiful task for parents! In the prayer of the family, in its great moments and difficult passages, we are entrusted to one other, so that each of us in the family―he concluded―may be kept by God‘s love."