FATHER, LOOK UPON OUR FAMILY

Introduction

448St. Francis Xavier was exposed to dangers
which were closely connected with shipwreck.
His life was in utmost peril
and only God could preserve him from death.
449In those critical moments
he sensed with ecstasy how deeply he was united
with his confreres everywhere,
on earth and in heaven.
450He recalled their pure and noble striving,
their meritorious and God-pleasing lives,
and for their sake he ardently prayed to God
that he be rescued from a seaman’s death.
451So supernatural were his thoughts—
so deep and warm his brotherly love!
He was so completely united with his community,
so attached to it as his family.
452Because it prospered in God’s sight
and strove to win God’s favor,
he believed that God would especially protect him
and faithfully use him as an instrument for his kingdom.
453Whenever Satan’s cunning and my own weakness discourage me
and I am oppressed by the bitter torment of my failures,
then I, too, can gratefully turn
to our vast capital of grace
454and have recourse to the merits of the noble, pure and steadfast souls
who daily choose the Lord to be their Bridegroom.
He benevolently turns his gaze towards them
and out of love for them will secure my happiness.

Prayer

455I daily offer them and all their strivings,
their holy and vigorous life of sacrifice and love:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
456When temptation threatens to overcome me
and Satan and the world do not depart:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
457When I am threatened by life’s uncertainties
and my enemies scatter bombs and shells:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
458When persecution constantly pursues me
and every meadow becomes a desert:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
459And when my life is hanging by a thread
because foes are waiting to trap me on every path:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
460When others, full of malice and blind hate,
seek to destroy and dismantle my life’s work:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
461When I am accused of every heresy
and all my supporters flee from me:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
462When others want to tear the souls from my side
whom I have been permitted to instruct:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
463When courage and trust fail me
because I face tasks beyond my strength:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
464When I am unable to prudently advise my own
and cannot shield them from harm to body and soul:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
465When Satan strikes with fierceness and cunning
to erase God from my life:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
466When it seems that God is letting Satan win
and everything around me wages war:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
467When I feel poor and naked before God
and yawning chasms open at my feet:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
468When life’s last hours toll for me
and my conscience raises bitter accusation:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
469When I stand before God’s judgment seat
and must fear the severity of judgment:
  Father, look with mercy on our family
  and for its sake reveal your wondrous love.
470I am so intimately united with my own
that we have always seen ourselves as one.
Their sanctity is my life and inspiration;
I would gladly give my life for them.
471I am so tenderly and loyally united with them
that a voice within me always says:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
472When I am buffeted by life’s wild storms
and passions wreak havoc in my soul:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
473When the world wants to allure me with its pleasure
and my heart is exhausted, overwrought and parched:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
474When I am put off by the striving for the heights
and my enthusiasm loses its vigor:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
475When I am constantly overlooked
and cannot meet the demands placed upon me:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
476When a heavy workload weighs upon me
and everything pushes me to hurry and to rush:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
477When my nerves play tricks on me
and failures cool my zeal:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
478When all my great plans are frustrated
and the world around me wildly bares its fangs at me:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
479When I am tired of being loyal in little things,
and am more inclined to cry than to laugh:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
480When God’s Spirit wants to urge me to the heights
but I would rather lie limply in the corner:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
481When obedience sorely tests me
and no warm sun shines down on me from above:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
482When the constraints of poverty weigh me down
and siren songs want to enchant my senses:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
483When it becomes difficult for me to go the way alone
while seeing others happily married:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
484When the drive to have children oppresses me
and I feel too constrained by my present form of life:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
485When I have become worn out by my work
and new questions are waiting at the door:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.
486When I am faced with important decisions
and yet balk at going the ways of sacrifice:
  What you are and do affects their lives,
  determines their misfortune and increases their happiness.

Conclusion

487We are closely united in Christ Jesus,
deeply united in his holy wounds—
we, his members, and he, the mighty Head:
this is the message which no one can take from us.
488As members of his Body we can merit
and gain a right to grace and glory.
As long as we are his true members
the Father will always look on us with kindness.
489If we resemble Christ in what we are and do,
we may extend our hands to one another;
the sanctity of the one will benefit all the others
through the Savior’s Blood.
490So it is that family love will give us wings,
motivating us to discipline our evil passions
and strive for the heights of sanctity
in sacrificial spirit and simple joy.
491Our own striving for sanctity will then become family love
and help the family joyfully bear all sorrow,
drawing down on it the Father’s joyful gaze
and becoming its sure and permanent staff and shield.
492It has its place in the framework of our apostolate
and helps enkindle our zeal for souls.
It is a bond which can never be broken,
uniting us in the city or on the land.