WMOF pARISH RESOURCES
PROMOTING THE FAMILY FESTIVAL
Would you like to promote the World Meeting of Families Family Festival to your network?
The button below will take you to a Dropbox folder with lots of advertising images to help you get the word out, such as:
Digital poster
Email header
PowerPoint slide
Social media tile
Website image
COMMEMORATING THE WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES
The following can also be found by visiting the World Meeting of Families website here.
Ideas for Prayers for the Faithful
- For the Church, so that throughout the world she may be able to proclaim and bear strong witness to the beauty of God’s plan for the family and to value it as a gift and a vocation. Let us pray…
- For Pope Francis, for every priest and deacon, so that, together with families, they can build up the Church as a “big family,” preserving in it unity and fraternal communion. Let us pray…
- For engaged couples, so that they may meet families in our community capable of bearing witness to them of the joy of love, experienced by virtue of Christ’s presence in Christian marriages. Let us pray…
- For families who are going through great painful difficulties, that they may find concrete support in our community and never lose hope in You. Let us pray…
- For those who endure the fatigue of illness or the pain of grief, may our community families learn to support each other and know how to open up to give help and support to those in need. Let us pray…
- So that our community will always be able to find new ways in order that every person with disabilities may feel welcomed and find a prominent role within the Church. Let us pray…
- We pray to you, Lord that every child in the world may have a family that welcomes him or her, makes him or her feel loved and gives him or her whatever is necessary to help him or her grow up happy and capable of love. Let us pray…
- We pray to you, Lord, for children who suffer from family breakups or who have been deprived of a family, that they may encounter a welcoming gaze encouraging them in life and teaching them hope. Let us pray…
- We entrust all mothers to you, Lord, so that they may welcome and guard with care and courage every child that is born in their womb. Let us pray…
- We pray to you, Lord, that every family may feel called but also guided and supported by You on the path to holiness. Let us pray…
- We pray that in every country the leaders will make decisions capable of concretely supporting families, especially the poorest and most disadvantaged. Let us pray…
Ideas for the Homily
- The Gospel passage we have just read invites us to take the thoughts we have been reflecting on the vocation of our families in recent days quite seriously. Like Jesus, we are called to make a “firm decision” to embark on a new journey. The words we have heard and the testimonies we have shared can be the nourishment and support for a journey that can only be renewed after living such an intense experience together.
- Like every Church reality, the family is also called not to live in self-referentiality, but to undertake a path of going out. In today’s Gospel, Jesus seems to have very harsh words and puts following Him even before the duty of burying one’s parents. He wants to tell us that even our most precious possession will wither if it is not rooted in Him and in a dynamic of going out and announcing His presence.
- Let us not keep the treasure of our love hidden! Let us share it with those who live next door to us and are most in need. Let every Christian family look for a family in difficulty, a lonely elderly person, a child in need of support- among their neighbours, in their neighbourhood, among their children’s schoolmates, etc. Let us take care of them in a maternal and paternal way, tenderly and concretely: let us make them part of our family. In this way we will open the doors of our hearts and let the love we have received permeate the world around us.
Ideas for invoking the Final Blessing
We praise and bless you, O Father,
from whom every family
in heaven and on earth is named.
Grant to us that through your Son Jesus Christ,
born of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit,
that every family may become a true sanctuary of life and love
for the generations that are ever renewed.
Let your Spirit
direct the thoughts and works of husbands and wives
toward the good of their families
and of all the families of the world.
Grant that in the domestic community
children may find strong support for their human and Christian growth
Let love,
consecrated by the bond of marriage
prove stronger than every weakness and every crisis.
Grant that Your Church fulfil her mission
for the family and with the family
in all the nations of the earth.
For Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Meet your event organisers:
We’d love to talk to you more about the World Meeting of Families Family Festival - just reach out!
Chantale Wilson
associate director
Lorraine Wynne
project officer
Tash Mierendorf
project officer
Monica Bidgood
admin support
We acknowledge and pay respect to Traditional Custodians on whose land we walk, live and worship.
We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.