AMERICA/PERU - On the National Day of the Family, Cardinal Cipriani asks that “legislation may respect human nature, of which the family is a part and that for centuries has been and still is fundamental for the human race.”

Lima (Agenzia Fides) – This Sunday, September 14, Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Cross, Peru celebrated the National Day of the Family, in consistence with the 1982 law (#23465) passed by the Peruvian Government, which called for the celebration on the second Sunday in September.
With this in mind, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, Archbishop of Lima, celebrated a Mass in the Cathedral, along with members of the Archdiocesan Commission on the Family, delegations of the groups of Family Ministry and the faithful of the parishes in the Archdiocese. Also present were the leading academic authorities, professors, and students from the Technological University of Peru, celebrating the 10th anniversary of their establishment.
The Archbishop of Lima affirms that “a family that has the Cross at its center will be a strong, stable, and united family.” Their marriage will be indissoluble and will be lasting. He also pointed out that the majority of the problems that lead to infidelity in marriage come from a desire to escape from this light that is the Cross, that mutual self-giving, the daily sacrifice in raising children, that love that can grow to the degree in which we rid ourselves of our selfishness. “A marriage without Cross is destroyed, a family without Cross breaks apart,” he said.
Cardinal Cipriani asked that the Virgin Mary protect the families and help them to find peace, so that their children can grow up with serenity, tenderness, and affection. “May schools become an area complementary to that of the family, not its adversary. May legislation respect human nature, of which the family is a part, not only in the sacramental aspect, but in its natural dimension in the complimentarity between man and woman...that for centuries has been and still is fundamental for the entire human race,” he added.
He also recalled what the Cross means for Christians, that is to say, “a moment of love, forgiveness; death that leads to life; making oneself less, so to become more; humility in truth; freedom within moral norms and the dignity of the human person.” “The logic of the Cross does not come naturally to our way of thinking, what the media says, or what the majority believe; it comes from a heart that looks at Christ,” he said.
Lastly, Cardinal Cipriani invited all the faithful to accompany Pope Benedict XVI with their prayers, as he visits Lourdes (France), on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady.
The Archdiocese of Lima, through its Family Ministry Office, has a Family Commission that is working in favor of the family, as well as the Family Institute (IFA), which depends from the Pontifical and Civil Theological School in Lima. The Family Commission of the Archdiocese seeks to offer orientation, motivation, and promotion of an organized Church effort to help Christian families understand and respond to their mission to form their children well, serve life, be educators in the faith and promote the common good. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 15/9/2008)