«Reading the Word of God in the family means learning through sincere listening and rediscovering the dimension of the Word, who is the eternal Silence of the Father from whom the Son himself was generated», Msgr. Paglia said. «From the beginning, in Christian history, reading the Bible in the family has been one of the cornerstones of pastoral life». In the fourth century, the Church Father John Chrysostom of Antioch already said: «This is the great plague of our times: the belief that reading the Gospel is reserved exclusively to religious and monks».
 

«The Gospel shows us Jesus in the temple, listening and explaining the Scriptures. As an adult, Jesus often prays the psalms, and even his last words on the cross recall the ancient prayer of Israel.” Jesus “died and rose again according to the Scriptures».Thus, the direct and constant relationship of believers with the Bible is “indispensable.” Unfortunately, however, «it sometimes seems that the Word of God is not the soul of the spiritual life of contemporary Christians, as it was throughout the entire tradition of the Church». The family is called, therefore, to become «one of the privileged places» for dialogue with God through the Scriptures. «Every Christian—or at least every family—should have their own Bible, so that he/she can read it every day and take it along on vacation or when traveling. In the ‘baggage’ of every believer there should always be a little Bible», said the President, recalling how the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church on the New Evangelization, in 2011, paid special attention to the relationship between the Scriptures, marriage and the Christian family. «In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Verbum Domini”, Benedict XVI writes: “With the proclamation of the Word of God, the Church reveals to the Christian family its true identity, what it is and should be in accordance with the Lord’s plan”. Therefore, we should never lose sight of the fact that the Word of God is the origin of marriage (Gen 2:24) and that Jesus himself wanted to include marriage among the institutions of his kingdom (Mt 19:4–8), making a sacrament of what was originally inscribed in human nature». Benedict XVI emphasized «the pastoral responsibility of parents towards their children. In fact, authentic parenthood includes the communication and the testimony of the meaning of life in Christ: through their loyalty and unity in family life, the couple is for their children the first heralds of the Word of God».
 

«The proclamation of the Word of God is privileged in the Eucharist», which «associates the table of the Word with the table of the Bread»,recalls Msgr. Paglia. The criterion for listening attentively to the Word is love. «God is love: the more we love the more we become like Him».