Friday, October 27, 2006

Bright Sun

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“Bright Sun of the Family” March 11, 1942 The wife and mother is the sun of the family. With generosity and devotion, with constant readiness, she watches over and provides for everything that helps to make life happy for her husband and children. She radiates light and warmth. It is usually said that a marriage is successful when each spouse strives from the beginning to insure not his own, but his partner’s happiness. Although this sentiment concerns both parties, it is the chief virtue of the wife, who is born with a mother’s instinct, a heart full of wisdom… The wife is the sun of the family, with her bright look and the warmth of her words which sweetly pierce the soul, move and soften it…Her eyes flash a world of meaning, and one word bespeaks a world of affection. Looks and words that dance up from a mother’s heart create the paradise of childhood, always radiating goodness and kindness even when they admonish or rebuke, for the more sensitive a child’s soul, the more profoundly he accepts the dictates of love. But what happens if the family is deprived of this sun? What if the wife continuously, on every occasion, even in the most intimate relationships, complains of how many sacrifices married life is costing her? Where is her gentle affection when excessive discipline and uncontrolled anger, or annoying indifference, smother in the children any feelings of joy and comfort at their mother’s side, when the harsh voice of her scolding and recriminations sadly disturbs and embitters a devoted family life? Where is that tender love and generosity when, instead of creating an atmosphere of welcome peace in the home, by her natural simplicity and tidiness, she poisons the air by being a restless, nervous, and demanding woman? Dear wives, this is where your responsibility for family harmony and happiness can lead. It is your husband’s role to provide for your home, and it is your role to arrange its comfort and well-being to assure the serenity of your two lives. For you this is not only a role of nature but a religious duty as well, an obligation of Christian virtue, the practice and merit of which will win you an increase in the love and grace of God. “But,” one of you may say, “this demands a life of sacrifice.” Do you believe that anyone here on earth can enjoy true and lasting happiness without earning it by some privation or denial?…Do you think that perhaps your husband too does not make sacrifices, often numerous and difficult ones, to provide an honorable living for his family? It is precisely these mutual sacrifices, borne together for the good of all, which give to married love and family happiness the stability, the holy depth and exquisite nobility which are rooted in the mutual respect of the husband and wife and which exalt them in the love and gratitude of their children. (Dear Newlyweds, p. 178-180)

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