176 Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale

VII

Iter Apostolicum in Srilankam et Philippinas: - Ad familiarum Manilae con- ventum, apud aedificium vulgo Mall of Asia Arena .*3

Dear Families, Dear Friends in Christ,

I am grateful for your presence here this evening and for the witness

of your love for Jesus and his Church. I thank Bishop Reyes, Chairman

of the Bishops' Commission on Family and Life, for his words of welcome

on your behalf. And, in a special way, I thank those who have presented

testimonies - thank you! - and who have shared their life of faith with us.

The Church in the Philippines is blessed by the apostolate of numerous

family movements and I thank them for their witness!

The Scriptures seldom speak of Saint Joseph, but when they do, we

often find him resting, as an angel reveals God's will to him in his dreams.

In the Gospel passage we have just heard, we find Joseph resting not

once, but twice. This evening I would like to rest in the Lord with all of

you. I need to rest in the Lord with families, and to remember my own

family: my father, my mother, my grandfather, my grandmother… Today I

am resting with you, and together with you I would like to reflect on the

gift of the family.

First, however, let me say something about dreams. But my English

is so poor! If you allow me, I will ask Monsignor Miles to translate and I

will speak in Spanish.

I am very fond of dreams in families. For nine months every mother and

father dream about their baby. Am I right? [Yes!] They dream about what

kind of child he or she will be... You can't have a family without dreams.

Once a family loses the ability to dream, children do not grow, love does

not grow, life shrivels up and dies. So I ask you each evening, when you

make your examination of conscience, to also ask yourselves this question:

Today did I dream about my children's future? Today did I dream about the

love of my husband, my wife? Did I dream about my parents and grand-

* Die 16 Ianuarii 2015.