The 10th World Meeting of Families will be held in Rome from June 22 to 26, 2022.
Cardinal Joseph Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, noted that “many families and communities have been waiting a long time to be able to set out on their way, at least spiritually, to Rome. Prayer will accompany them and help them to grasp the message of the gathering.”d
The Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, offered, “I invite everyone to prepare for this event of grace that the Church of Rome has the joy of hosting, and to address this prayer to the Lord in the intimacy of their family, together with the parish and diocesan community.”
Family Love: Vocation and Path to Holiness
Heavenly Father,
We come before You to praise You
and to thank You for the great gift of the family.
We pray to You for all families
consecrated by the Sacrament of Matrimony.
May they rediscover each day
the grace they have received,
and as small domestic Churches,
may they know how to witness to Your presence
and to the love with which Christ loves the Church.
We pray to You for all families faced with difficulty and suffering
caused by illness or circumstances of which only You know.
Sustain them and make them aware
of the path to holiness upon which You call them,
so that they might experience Your infinite mercy
and find new ways to grow in love.
We pray to You for children and young people:
may they encounter You and respond joyfully
to the vocation You have in mind for them;
We pray for parents and grandparents: may they be aware
that they are signs of the fatherhood and motherhood of God
in caring for the children who, in body and spirit, You entrust to them;
and for the experience of fraternity
that the family can give to the world.
Lord, grant that each family
might live their specific vocation to holiness in the Church
as a call to become missionary disciples,
in the service of life and peace,
in communion with our priests, religious,
and all vocations in the Church.
Bless the World Meeting of Families.
Amen.
This prayer is inspired by the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the meeting: “Family love: a vocation and a path to holiness.”
“It is from the love experienced in family life that the vocation of every child is born; it is love savored within the domestic walls that traces the first steps on the path to holiness," Cardinal Farrell added. "An experience of prayer introduces us to the deeper liberating meaning of relationships in daily life. The binomials of family and vocation together with family and holiness show us how family relationships are of fundamental importance in the generation of love.
