Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 20, 2007 / 12:20 pm (CNA).- Bishop Luis Armando Collazuol of Concordia and advisor to Catholic Action Argentina, said this week, “If on becoming man God wanted to have a family, how great and how holy is the family in the eyes of God.”

In a recent message to “the great family of Catholic Action Argentina,” the bishop pointed out that “as happens every year, Christmas again presents to us the image of a family, a very special Family,” and he stressed that “at Bethlehem we learn that life is better in the family.”

“The stable of Bethlehem speaks to us of the generous, faithful and permanent love of spouses,” of the “Mercy of God who blesses the family,” of “the ineffable experience of loving and being loved,” and “of the natural place that children have in the communion of love of the parents.”

Likewise, Bishop Collazuol recalled, “God loves our families, despite so many wounds and divisions,” and therefore we must thank Jesus because, “by choosing to live amidst us in a family, He elevates it to the dignity of a Domestic Church.” “The family, [the] patrimony of humanity, constitutes one of the most important treasures” of Argentina, and therefore it must be cared for and be encouraged to grow in “faith, fidelity, love and service, in order to pass it on as a precious inheritance to the children,” the bishop said.

In addition, Bishop Collazuol urged that we “keep before our eyes the beauty of the family as shown by the Holy Family in Bethlehem, in the temple of Jerusalem, in the trial of the exile in Egypt, in the daily life of Nazareth.”

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