“If only our friends could be here!”
 
We must have had that thought a hundred times at last week’s World Meeting of Families in Rome (June 22-26), where—in addition to giving our talk on discernment (here’s last week’s full media coverage of Trinity House)—we took tons of notes on the 30+ talks we heard by speakers from nearly 20 countries. More importantly, we prayed for you and your families—and also for the many who have entrusted special petitions and prayer requests with us. 
 
We think that you’ll find a meaningful and inspiring takeaway from the notes below, whether you’ve attended the Heaven in Your Home Workshop at a parish, watched our workshop online, enjoyed the Heaven in Your Home Letters, or love Trinity House Café + Market.
 
But you don’t have to experience the World Meeting through the lens of our impressions. Instead, you can watch or read the talks on your own time.
 
We’d like to share three challenges from the week that struck us—and then seven highlights. These seven talks—all ranging between 15 and 30 minutes and available with translations at the links below—will give you a fresh insight or tool for your family.     
 
First, how were these talks challenging? While it’s still very fresh, we’d point to these three big-picture themes:

1. Mission. “Each of your families has a mission to carry out in our world, a testimony to give,” Pope Francis said on the opening evening. “Start from where you are,” he said, “and, from there, try to journey together: together as couples, together in your families, together with other families, together with the Church.” Rather than putting on airs, pretending that we have Instagram-perfect marriages and families, or beating ourselves up, we need to “start from where we are,” journey together, and live out the mission that God has given our family. These themes anchored the week in reality, “journeying to heaven with both feet on the ground,” as one speaker noted. 

2. Accompaniment. Not just any accompaniment. Kerygmatic accompaniment—a walking alongside individuals, couples, and families that brings them the kerygma, the saving news of Jesus Christ. One participant in our delegation said, “In the U.S., where we’re always rushing from one thing to the next, we have to admit that we don’t do accompaniment well.” We agree. We need to do a much better job of accompanying couples and families—at all stages of their journey—and bringing Jesus to them.   

3. Witness. Pope St. Paul VI famously said, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” Over and over last week, we were struck by the power of a couple standing up together to attest to how the Lord is working in their lives. Yes, we need programs, methodologies, and strategic plans…but we cannot neglect the power of a couple’s witness. We need to do a better job of unleashing the power of a couples’ witness—allowing our hurting world to see the beauty and joy of married life and family life.  

And now for 7 talks that epitomize these themes of mission, accompaniment, and witness. We realize this is a lot, but perhaps you can bookmark this email and returning to these talks over the course of this summer: 

1. Pope Francis gave several messages to the World Meeting of Families, but our favorite was this inspiring and challenging homily that we heard him give on St. Peter’s Square last Saturday. Consider printing it up and reflecting on it during one of your prayer times in the coming week.   

2. “Forgiveness as the Path to Holiness,” (text at 6/25 and video) by Leila and Danny Abdallah from Australia, left few dry eyes in the conference hall of 2,000 delegates. Powerful.   

3. “The Domestic Church and Synodality” (text at 6/23 and video at 2:36:25) by Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak, provided practical and challenging insights on the “the three rites of the liturgy of the domestic church life.”  

4. “We Need Fathers and Mothers” by Ryan and Mary Rose Verret (text at 6/23 and video at 2:30:38) drove home a challenge: Are we as parents allowing our children to experience the reality that, as they said, “You are precious, you are loved, and you will grow up to understand the language of love”? 

5. “Family Love: Wonderful and Fragile,” by Andre & Karina Parreira (text at 6/23 and video at 1:01:49), from Brazil, challenged us to “slow down and contemplate the four sides of the diamond of marriage.” They said, “Take your family to heaven without taking your feet off the ground.” Amen!

6. “Accept the Nascent Life, Always,” by GianLuigi de Palo and AnnaChirara Gambini (text at 6/23 and video at 3:02:29), from Italy, told the amazing story of welcoming their Down Syndrome infant, posting a video about their joy, and seeing it go viral. “We are one of many families who said yes to life, just like we said yes to the beauty of being a Christian, and yes to the beauty of marriage,” they said.  

7. “The Role of Grandparents,” by Alvaro Medina del Campo and Maria Rosario Garcia Garoz, (text at 6/23 and video at 4:36:08), from Spain, shared how as grandparents, they are called to have the “faith of the stretcher bearers,” who carry their friend (or children and grandchildren) to Jesus to be healed. What a powerful and encouraging image for every parent and grandparent to reflect upon!

Gathering with 2,000 families this past week drove home for us the fact that families are struggling and hurting all over the world—but God’s love and mercy is far greater! As we continue to pray for you and your intentions, we hope that you will be encouraged by the witness of the couples who shared their testimonies last week in Rome.

Thank you for your prayers for our family, and may the Lord bless your family as you seek to carry out your family’s mission in the world!  

PS. To our many new Heaven in Your Home Letters subscribers, welcome! To get a fuller sense for the kind of practical topics we focus on each week, check out our Letters homepage here. 

PPS. As our family enjoys some vacation time together, we’ll be pausing the Letters and we look forward to resuming them on July 19th!

PPS. So many of you have already joined our special mid-year campaign to expand the reach of Trinity House Community with gifts of $10, $20, $50, and more! Will you consider making your gift here before June 30th, in order for us to take full advantage of a generous match challenge that doubles your gift? Thank you!