Priest: Families teach true love

By Angelique Ruhi-Lopez - Florida Catholic

CORAL GABLES | From his humble, quiet demeanor, you wouldn’t know that Father Jacques Philippe is a world-renowned retreat master, speaker, and author of modern spiritual classics, with more than one million books sold and translated into 24 languages.

The French priest is spending two months touring the United States and Canada, sharing wisdom from his books on prayer, interior freedom and peace of heart and mind. He spoke at St. Augustine Church in Coral Gables March 6 on the Gospel of the Beatitudes and how it can serve as a light for marriages and families today. 

“There is a lot of discord and battles around the family today, but also opportunity for graces,” said Father Philippe, who used a translator during his talk. “The language of the Church has evolved and we don’t consider marriage just a state of life, but a vocation, a call from God. It’s a true path, a journey to consecrate ourselves to God through marriage and family.”

Father Philippe is a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, an Ecclesial Family of Consecrated Life founded in France in 1973. The community is comprised of faithful Catholics from all states of life (married and single lay people, seminarians, priests, deacons, and consecrated men and women) who wish to model their lives after the early Christians through the common life, sharing of goods, voluntary poverty and dedicated sacramental and liturgical lives. Community members follow Carmelite spirituality while also engaging in proclaiming the Gospel and serving the poor.

“In a religious community, we don’t accept everyone. We discern and see if it’s a good fit,” said Father Philippe. “In the family, it’s not like that. We can’t discern, we have to receive from God. (Children) could be intelligent, or fragile or handicapped but we receive them as a gift. Family is the particular vocation to be a witness of the unconditional love of God that welcomes all.”

He stressed that receiving and welcoming all as a gift sometimes means that things don’t go according to our plans.

“Life isn’t something we plan or program but something we receive day after day after day,” Father Philippe said. “The reality of the family is that we can’t plan everything. It’s always a surprise. The family resists in an absolute way all sorts of plans, like when you have loaded up the car and someone needs to go to the bathroom,” he said with a chuckle. “This great big efficient planning of the future is impossible because of the diversity of people in a family. There is an unconditional value of each person. We don’t value them for their efficiency.”

This concept of not valuing family members based on efficiency struck a chord with Eleonora Cacchione, who attended the talk with her husband, Max.

“I have always admired Father Jacques Philippe's work and already own a few of his books, so my husband and I jumped at the opportunity to attend his talk,” she said. “He presented a few aspects of family life that I had not considered before, such as how we as a society tend to value efficiency but how these traits are completely irrelevant when it comes to family life, in which we are called to patiently love and serve each other, especially the youngest and most vulnerable members of our family.”

Father Philippe explained that he felt the modern world’s tendency is to discourage family life and that families today face many spiritual and cultural battles.

“There were time periods when the family was more respected, but I also believe there is a chance for us today,” he said. “It obligates us to put God in the center. We don’t need to go backwards but we do need to go back to God. We need to return to faith, trust, prayer. I am not saying we need to transform our family into a monastery, that’s not their vocation. But keep a life of prayer and hope. It’s there that we find the necessary graces.”

Father Philippe also spoke about how each of the eight Beatitudes can be lived out within family life.

“If we live the Beatitudes in a true, authentic way, we live a certain poverty,” he said. “Especially as parents we can no longer live for ourselves and are no longer the master of my own life. It’s very beautiful because it’s here that we learn how to love.”

“His description of the family as a domestic church, along with his explanation of how the Beatitudes could be implemented within the family, were very inspirational,” said Cacchione.

While visiting South Florida, Father Philippe also met with priests and spoke at a Lenten Mission at St. Augustine Church March 7, where he focused on one of the Beatitudes: what it means to be poor in spirit. He also has several events March 10 (see box below.)

Father Philippe said the biggest spiritual challenge facing the world today is losing hope. He said he desired to instill in others the importance of maintaining hope.

“The danger in losing our hope is losing everything. Spiritual struggles are always trying to destroy our hope,” he said in an interview after his March 6 talk, adding that Christians can combat this tendency “by nourishing our faith, hope and love. What is important is keeping contact with God and relying on the promises of God. We also need to nourish ourselves through the sacramental life. The sacraments give us the power to rely on the promises of Christ.”

IF YOU GO

Father Jacques Philippe will speak March 10 at the following events:

• 12-1 p.m. Lenten reflection on the universal call to holiness, for faculty and staff at the University of Miami. On campus at the School of Nursing, lunch included. RSVP required.
• 7 p.m. Mass at St. Augustine Church followed by soup supper.
• 8 p.m. Parish Lenten Mission on personal prayer life and deepening one’s relationship with God at St. Augustine Church, 1400 Miller Road, Coral Gables.