"Chapter III focuses on a Church that takes to heart the broken ties, cohabitation, and civil unions, with the commitment, like a Church Mother and Teacher, in order to accompany towards the fullness of what is still on the way and to heal the wounds of those who, for various reasons, are living through the pain of a broken relationship." These are the first words of the commentary of Fr. Giampaolo Dianin, professor of moral theology and pastoral care of the family at the Theological Faculty of Triveneto, on Chapter III of Part III of the Instrumentum Laboris, entitled "
The Family and Accompaniment by the Church."
The verbs of this spiritual accompaniment―says Fr. Dianin―are: announce, welcome, encourage, find, support, console, care for, stay next to; the background of the Gospel is the "merciful truth;" consideration attentive in order to understand the motivations and assume the suffering.
Accompany means, first of all, recuperating some dimensions of family life without which no relationship is able to withstand the headwinds; the first among them is the readiness to forgive. This alone, as a daily experience, will make it possible to overcome the conflicts to which diversity inevitably leads, without forgetting that the education to relationship is the fruit of "a solid spiritual life and trust in God's faithful presence."
Il Commento
