Year of the Amoris Laetitia Family

March 19, 2021 (the Feast of St. Joseph) marks the five-year anniversary of the release of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on Marriage and Family Life entitled Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”). To celebrate this anniversary, Pope Francis has declared a Year of the Amoris Laetitia Family, starting on March 19, 2021 and going until June 26, 2022 when the World Meeting of Families will take place in Rome. To learn more about this year, read a statement by Archbishop Jackels, and find helpful resources for celebrating it, please visit the links below (more content will be added here over the course of the year).

Heavenly Father,
We come before You to praise You
and to thank You for the great gift of the family.
We pray to You for all families
consecrated by the Sacrament of Matrimony.
May they rediscover each day
the grace they have received,
and as small domestic Churches,
may they know how to witness to Your presence
and to the love with which Christ loves the Church.
We pray to You for all families faced with difficulty and suffering
caused by illness or circumstances of which only You know.
Sustain them and make them aware
of the path to holiness upon which You call them,
so that they might experience Your infinite mercy
and find new ways to grow in love.
We pray to You for children and young people:
may they encounter You and respond joyfully
to the vocation You have in mind for them;
We pray for parents and grandparents: may they be aware
that they are signs of the fatherhood and motherhood of God
in caring for the children who, in body and spirit, You entrust to them;
and for the experience of fraternity
that the family can give to the world.
 
Lord, grant that each family
might live their specific vocation to holiness in the Church
as a call to become missionary disciples,
in the service of life and peace,
in communion with our priests, religious,
and all vocations in the Church.
 
Bless the World Meeting of Families.
Amen.
 
Official prayer for the X World Meeting of Families, which culminates the Year of Amoris Laetitia
June 22-26, 2022