“Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you” – is the message of the Gospel. Only Jesus can give us true peace, only His love can fully unite human hearts. This was understood very well by our confrere, Father Mateo Crawley (whose anniversary of death occurs today). At the beginning of the 20th century he began his great crusade for the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in families in order to strengthen or renew the Christian spirit in this essential social cell. This work does not cease to be relevant, and it becomes even more pressing today, when traditional values, including the family in its biblical understanding, are more and more boldly challenged. That is why we are pleased with the initiative of Pope Francis, who this year encourages us to reflect on the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" devoted to the subject of love in the family. “We cannot encourage a path of fidelity and mutual self-giving” - writes the Pope in the Exhortation – “without encouraging the growth, strengthening and deepening of conjugal and family love. Indeed, the grace of the sacrament of marriage is intended before all else “to perfect the couple’s love””. Here, too, we can say that, “even if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:2-3).
May this short reminder encourage us to reflect in depth on the Pontifical Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia", and allow us to see the richness of the apostolic activity of our great Confrere, who devoted his entire life to the cause of the spiritual renewal of Christian families.