On June 25, Pope Francis closed the 10th World Meeting of Families with this missionary mandate:
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Dear families,
I invite you to continue the journey, listening to the Father who calls you.
Be missionaries along the highways and byways of the world.
Do not walk alone.
You young families, be guided by those who know the way.
You who are farther along, be companions on the way for others.
You who are lost because of difficulties, do not be overcome by sadness.
Trust in the love that God has placed in you.
Plead daily with the Spirit to revive that love.
Joyfully proclaim the beauty of being family.
Proclaim to children and young people the grace of Christian matrimony.
Give hope to those who have none.
Act as if everything depended on you, knowing that everything must be entrusted to God.
Be the ones to sew the fabric of a synodal society and Church, creating relationships, multiplying love and life.
Be signs of the living Christ.
Do not be afraid of what the Lord asks of you, nor of being generous with him.
Open yourselves to Christ.
Listen to him in the silence of prayer.
Accompany those who are more fragile.
Carry those who are alone: refugees, abandoned.
Be the seed of a more fraternal world.
Be families with large hearts.
Be the welcoming face of the Church.
May Mary Our Mother come to your aid when there is no more wine.
May she be a companion in the moments of silence and trial.
May she help you to walk together with her risen Son. Amen.
