"He would get his answer not in the great wind which shatters the rocks, nor in the earthquake nor even in the fire," the Pope said.
"God's grace does not shout out; it is a whisper which reaches all those who are ready to hear its still, small voice. It urges them to go forth, to return to the world, to be witnesses to God's love for mankind, so that the world may believe."
Pope Francis recalled the vigil held one year prior for the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family. During that gathering, those present prayed for the Holy Spirit to inspire the Synod participants to listen to each other, and to keep their "gaze fixed on Jesus, the definitive Word of the Father and the criterion by which everything is to be measured."
"This evening, our prayer cannot be otherwise," the Pope said.
He cited the words of Patriarch Athenagoras, who said without the Holy Spirit, the Church is simply an organization, whose "authority becomes domination, mission becomes propaganda, worship becomes mystique, Christian life the morality of slaves."
The Pope appealed to the Synod participants to draw from the Church's tradition in bringing "comfort and hope" to families today.
Jesus has his own experience within a family, like many others, for the first 30 years of his earthly life in an obscure town of the Roman Empire, the Pope recalled.
Pope Francis cited the example of Charles de Foucauld, Algerian founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus. An early 20th century martyr, declared Blessed in 2005, "Brother Charles" had abandoned a military career to explore a spirituality based on the Holy Family.
"Contemplating the Family of Nazareth, Brother Charles realized how empty the desire for wealth and power really is," the Pope said.
The Blessed had wanted to be a hermit, but learned that love of God was fostered by human relationships. "For in loving others, we learn to love God, in stooping down to help our neighbor, we are lifted up to God," he said.
"Through his fraternal closeness and his solidarity with the poor and the abandoned, he came to understand that it is they who evangelize us, they who help us to grow in humanity."
Pope Francis said it is necessary to follow Blessed Charles' example and enter "into the mystery of the family of Nazareth."
Pope Francis called on the Synod to not only speak about the family but to learn from the family its dignity, strength, and value, notwithstanding its challenges.
He also reflected on the Church in terms of a family. As mother, it is "ever capable of giving and nourishing life, accompanying it with devotion, tenderness, and moral strength."
In turn, the Church also demonstrates the "closeness and love of a father, a responsible guardian who protects without confining, who corrects without demeaning, who trains by example and patience, sometimes simply by a silence which bespeaks prayerful and trusting expectation."
The Pope also spoke of the Church in terms of brothers and sisters, who never view one another as "a burden, a problem, an expense, a concern or a risk."
For this reason, the Church appeals "to the longing for peace present in every man and woman, including those who – amid life's trials – have wounded and suffering hearts."
Pope Francis concluded: "This Church can indeed light up the darkness felt by so many men and women. She can credibly point them towards the goal and walk at their side, precisely because she herself first experienced what it is to be endlessly reborn in the merciful heart of the Father."