The Eucharistic celebration on the eve of Family Day and Grandparents’ Day, in the evening on Saturday in the Church of the Holy Family in Kupres, was led by Metropolitan Archbishop of Vrhbosnia and Apostolic Administrator of the Military Ordinariate in Bosnia and Herzegovina Tomo Vukušić together with Archbishop of Vrhbosnia in peace Cardinal Vinko Puljić and auxiliary bishop of Banjo Luka, Marko Semren.
In his sermon, Vukšić called on all gathered believers to pray for their families.
“Today, when we are gathered in this church, where the Holy Family is worshiped in a special way, and on the occasion of supporting the sixth day of prayer of our Episcopal Conference for families in all our parishes and diocesan communities, of course it imposes itself in this thinking family theme. When we add to that that these days we also celebrated the feast of Saints Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents, and Jesus’ maternal grandparents, then it seems additionally very important not only to pray, but also to think about our families. In addition, it is a happy circumstance that these days the entire Church celebrates the Day of the Elderly, specifically grandparents, and thus in the unity of three generations pray for the family, in the unity of three generations the family lives and builds the family,” Archbishop Vukšić said in the appropriate sermon.
He said that we live in a time that has imposed a way of life, a rhythm of life and a pace of life, when there are fewer and fewer families blessed in this way to be able to live happily in the community of three generations.
“Rhythm of life, manner and obligations, looking for work in various parts of the world have conditioned that in our time that Christian ideal of three generations of family life, which is also indicated by the just mentioned way of life of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in communion with Joachim and Ana, is further away from what is the everyday life of our family gatherings. This leads to the fact that grandparents who are deprived of the opportunity to have their children near suffer in a special way, as well as their grandchildren who are not, or are less and less, in a situation where they can feel the gentle smile of their grandparents and the caress of their children. hand. And while we invoke the Christian ideal and ask God’s blessing for all families who have the opportunity to live in such a way, we equally invoke God’s blessing for all those who are deprived of such a life, that in the state they are in and thanks to the rhythm imposed by it, they can live the fidelity of their husbands and wife and maintain and fulfill their duties as parents towards their own children and vice versa so that children can gratefully carry out God’s commandment to respect their father and mother so that they too will be truly beautiful and happy in this life,” said the archbishop of Vrhbosna, reports KTA.
He called on the faithful to invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary so that the mercy and blessing of her Son descend on this generation “not only Croatian Catholics, but Catholics and people in general of Europe and the entire Western civilization on the path of their and our common conversion in living the virtues of virginity and motherhood.”
“Therefore, it is necessary that this almost nostalgic statement about the Marian people becomes a real fact again, that it becomes the everyday life of this part of the Church of Christ”, said Archbishop Vukšić, pointing out that the example of the Holy Family, the family of three generations, and in a special way the example of Jesus, In the life of Maria and Josip, family virtues become very urgent, very necessary and very relevant even in our time.
The Holy Mass was followed by adoration of the Holy Altar Sacrament led by Cardinal Vinko Puljić on the theme of the family.
