Thanks to Paul at Alive and Young for linking to this great video by the Knights of Columbus about the vocation to Marriage. I had seen it on EWTN several months ago and it was apparently shown at the papal youth rally in Yonkers last weekend.

In his address to the Bishops in Washington D.C. last week, Pope Benedict expressed deep concern for the state of the family within society:

How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether.

He specifically noted the increase in cohabitation, in which the

Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent.

Such a breakdown of the family denies society the “stable building blocks” necessary to maintain its moral focus. In this year’s World Day of Peace Message, Pope Benedict says that he

spoke of the essential contribution that healthy family life makes to peace within and between nations. In the family home we experience “some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them” (no. 3).

A culture of life must honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life as it is an

unconditional and unreserved “yes” to life, a “yes” to love, and a “yes” to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord.

On Path to Holiness you can see more of my reflections on some of the things the Holy Father touched on during his visit.