Chapter 3. Looking to Jesus: the vocation of the family.
Here the Pope speaks about the imperfection of the sign of marriage. He's caught up with human imperfection, so he can't speak about the ideal, and as a consequence, he doesn't teach the perfection of marriage. This is somewhat Lutheran.
But if we don't have the vision of perfection, what is it that people are being called to?
Practically speaking, we need to look at how Christ is mediated in marriage; what is special and attractive about Christian marriage?
Perhaps the most important question to arise from this chapter is, how do we present Christian marriage to young people today?
First of all, what do young people today think that marriage is? Unless we know where they are, how do we know how to guide them towards where they need to be?
Secondly, what do we teach them? Many young people today are looking at a wedding, an event, and not at marriage, a communion of life.
Marriage is also a secular reality, whereas the other sacraments are not. So, how do we proclaim the qualitative difference between Christian marriage and a wedding or a relationship? What does Christian marriage add to life?
Amoris Laetitia has nice words to say, but remains quite distant from where people are.
For people of faith, the Pope's message no doubt inspires. But what about people of no faith? Today, the Church continues to provide services for people, as it used to do during the era of Christendom, but the times have changed. Today we need to evangelise.
The big question is, how do we inspire young people for Christ?
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