Cardinal Tagle: ‘Avoid making family haven of corruption’

On the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle reminded parents to take their obligation seriously as role models of their children.

In his homily Friday, he said that ideas about righteousness, justice and charity are grasped firmly through the example of the parents.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples expressed hope that the virtues of St. Joseph will be transmitted in the family from generation to generation.

“Let us avoid making the family a haven of corruption,” Tagle said at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome. “In many cultures, the family is the excuse for corruption.”

He said that people have so much to learn from Jesus’ foster father on how to value the family.

Planning for the family in terms of budget and other needs is good, according to him, “but it is not enough”.

“In St. Joseph, we see that faith is a pillar of a family that God wills us to form,” Tagle said.

“So we ask our fathers, our mothers, our children, does faith play a role in your being one family especially when there are difficult moments?” he said.

At the time when Joseph was confused and planned to divorce Mary, he said the saint was ready to let the whole matter drop quietly, and still thinking of the best of others.

Unfortunately, he also said, some of the “most bitter wounds and conflicts” happen in the families.

“The most painful shaming happens within the family,” the cardinal said.

“Righteousness and justice but pursued with charity” are “beautiful blending” that people can learn from St. Joseph, he added.

“It’s not justice, righteousness against charity,” he said. “You exercise justice, in the spirit of charity. And very concretely you don’t expose someone to shame.” (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published on CBCP News.